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Optical tracking of deep-space spacecraft in Halo L2 orbits and beyond: The Gaia mission as a pilot case

Buzzoni, Alberto; Altavilla, Giuseppe; Galleti, Silvia

We tackle the problem of accurate optical tracking of distant man-made probes, on Halo orbit around the Earth-Sun libration point L2 and beyond, along interplanetary transfers. The improved performance of on-target tracking, especially when observing with small-class telescopes is assessed providing a general estimate of the expected S/N ratio in …

The end-of-life disposal of satellites in libration-point orbits using solar radiation pressure

Soldini, Stefania; Colombo, Camilla; Walker, Scott

This paper proposes an end-of-life propellant-free disposal strategy for libration-point orbits which uses solar radiation pressure to restrict the evolution of the spacecraft motion. The spacecraft is initially disposed into the unstable manifold leaving the libration-point orbit, before a reflective sun-pointing surface is deployed to enhance th…