Satellite Dynamics and Space Missions

This book discusses the design of new space missions and their use for a better understanding of the dynamical behaviour of solar system bodies, which is an active field of astrodynamics. Space missions gather data and observations that enable new breakthroughs in our understanding of the origin, evolution and future of our solar system and Earth’s place within it. Covering topics such as satellite and space mission dynamics, celestial mechanics, spacecraft navigation, space exploration applications, artificial satellites, space debris, minor bodies, and tidal evolution, the book presents a collection of contributions given by internationally respected scientists at the summer school “Satellite Dynamics and Space Missions: Theory and Applications of Celestial Mechanics”, held in 2017 at San Martino al Cimino, Viterbo (Italy). This school aimed to teach the latest theories, tools and methods developed for satellite dynamics and space, and as such the book is a valuable resource for graduate students and researchers in the field of celestial mechanics and aerospace engineering.

Giulio Baù is a Researcher at the University of Pisa’s Department of Mathematics. His research focuses on orbit propagation and determination methods for small celestial bodies, regularizations techniques in the N-body problem, dynamics of asteroids and space debris.

Alessandra Celletti received her PhD from ETH in Zurich in 1989 and she is currently a Full Professor of Mathematical Physics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. Her research focuses on celestial mechanics and dynamical systems, especially kam theory and stability problems.

Cătălin Bogdan Galeș is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Mathematics, Al.I. Cuza University of Iași. His research interests include celestial mechanics, perturbation theories, and mechanics of deformable solids.

Giovanni Federico Gronchi is a Full Professor of Mathematical Physics at the University of Pisa. His research is on solar system body dynamics, perturbation theory, orbit determination, singularities, and periodic orbits of the N-body problem.