Interplanetary encounters: Close-range gravitational interactions

Research on interplanetary encounters as a problem in statistical celestial mechanics is reviewed and organized in textbook form, with systematic presentation of the principal results of the author's own studies. The leading topics are: dynamical approximations of the restricted three-body problem, encounter probabilities, orbital change and ejection, acceleration of encounter velocity and resonances, and destruction mechanics (cratering induced by collisions or by nuclear explosions). Subtopics include: two-body approximations, dynamical lifetime of cometary debris, meteoric bodies in 1/1 resonance with the earth, encounter parameters of the planets and of the tidally receding moon, and omnidirectional encounter probabilities.