Title: Mapping stable direct and retrograde orbits around the triple system of asteroids (45) Eugenia,
Abstract: It is well accepted that knowing the composition and the orbital evolution of
asteroids may help us to understand the process of formation of the Solar
System. It is also known that asteroids can represent a threat to our planet.
Such important role made space missions to asteroids a very popular topic in
the current astrodynamics and astronomy studies. By taking into account the
increasingly interest in space missions to asteroids, especially to multiple
systems, we present a study aimed to characterize the stable and unstable
regions around the triple system of asteroids (45) Eugenia. The goal is to
characterize unstable and stable regions of this system and compare with the
system 2001 SN263 - the target of the ASTER mission. Besides, Prado (2014) used
a new concept for mapping orbits considering the disturbance received by the
spacecraft from all the perturbing forces individually. This method was also
applied to (45) Eugenia. We present the stable and unstable regions for
particles with relative inclination between 0 and 180 degrees. We found that
(45) Eugenia presents larger stable regions for both, prograde and retrograde
cases. This is mainly because the satellites of this system are small when
compared to the primary body, and because they are not so close to each other.
We also present a comparison between those two triple systems, and a discussion
on how these results may guide us in the planning of future missions.