Modélisation et analyse de la dynamique orbitale : équilibres, résonances et chaos

Abstract

The gravitational fields of the Earth, Moon and Sun, perturbed by the planets and by the direct solar radiation pressure govern the dynamics of the articial satellites. The foundation stone of this thesis is our software NIMASTEP. This thesis model and study the orbital dynamics of such objects. We emphasize the complementarity of the numerical tools (numerical integration and chaos indicators as the MEGNO and the frequency analysis) with the traditional analytical methods of the celestial mechanics (Hamiltonian, averaging, models of resonance and vectorial formalism). With these various tools we study the resonances, due to the non-uniformity of the gravitational field, appearing around the asteroid Vesta. Afterwards we examine the global dynamics of geostationary space debris that are dominated by the radiation pressure creating a web of secondary resonances. Then we deal with the layout of the frozen orbits around Mercury taking into account his flattening and the gravitational effect of the Sun. We also study the effect of the octupole term onto the dynamics of a small body in an exoplanetary system. Finally, we develop an algorithm (NAFFO) to obtain numerically the initial condition of one equilibrium in a forced system.

Date of Award	30 May 2011
Original language	French
Awarding Institution	University of Namur
Supervisor	Timoteo Carletti (Supervisor), Anne Lemaitre (Supervisor), Robert Sporken (President), Philippe Robutel (Jury), Antonio ELIPE SANCHEZ (Jury) & Slawomir BREITER (Jury)