Long term stability of solar storage orbits
Abstract
In connection with a consideration of various approaches for the extraterrestrial disposal of long lived radioactive material, it appears that storage in solar orbits near the earth offers performance advantages relative to solar impact or solar system escape trajectories. An investigation is conducted concerning the stability of various orbits from the viewpoint of selecting stable storage orbits, taking into account the possibility of an intersection of such storage orbits with the earth's orbit as a consequence of injection errors or deployment system failures. Investigation of the evolution of many orbits for a million years is best treated by analytic theories or approximate numerical integration. Of primary interest to waste disposal are orbits having small eccentricities and low inclinations.
- Publication:
-
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Conference
- Pub Date:
- September 1977
- Bibcode:
- 1977aiaa.confU....D
- Keywords:
-
- Long Term Effects;
- Orbit Perturbation;
- Orbital Mechanics;
- Radioactive Wastes;
- Solar Orbits;
- Waste Disposal;
- Lagrangian Equilibrium Points;
- Orbit Calculation;
- Orbital Elements;
- Perturbation Theory;
- Astrodynamics