Elena Fantino

Khalifa University | KU · Department of Aerospace Engineering

Gateway will represent a primary logistic infrastructure in cislunar space. The identification of efficient orbit transfers capable of connecting Earth, Moon, and Gateway paves the way for enabling refurbishment, servicing, and utilization of this orbiting platform. This study is devoted to determining two-way minimum-time low-thrust orbit transfer...

Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are asteroids, comets and meteoroids in heliocentric orbits with perihelion below 1.3 au. Similarly to the population of the Main Asteroid Belt, NEOs are primordial bodies and their study can improve our understanding of the origins of the Solar System. With a catalog of over 30~000 known asteroids and approximately 100 li...

Solar radiation pressure can have a substantial long-term effect on the orbits of high area-to-mass ratio spacecraft, such as solar sails. We present a study of the coupling between radiation pressure and the gravitational perturbation due to polar flattening. Removing the short-period terms via perturbation theory yields a time-dependent two-degre...

This work focuses on minimum-time low-thrust orbit transfers from a prescribed low Earth orbit to a specified low lunar orbit. The well-established indirect formulation of minimum-time orbit transfers is extended to a multibody dynamical framework, with initial and final orbits around two distinct primaries. To do this, different representations, u...

The Gateway will represent a primary space system useful for the Artemis program, Earth-Moon transportation, and deep space exploration. It is expected to serve as a staging location on the way to the lunar surface. This study focuses on low-thrust transfer dynamics, from the Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit traveled by Gateway to a specified Low-altitu...

Near Earth Objects (NEOs) are small Solar System bodies (such as asteroids, comets and meteoroids) in heliocentric orbits with perihelion below 1.3 astronomical units. With a catalog of over 30,000 known asteroids and approximately 100 listed short-period comets, the NEO population represents an inventory of exploration targets reachable with signi...

The growing interest in the study of Mars is driving the development of technologies to ease the landing of scientific payloads or the insertion of probes into stable orbits around the red planet. In this context, current exploration capabilities can be enhanced by the use of small satellites as low-cost platforms to carry out dedicated automatic m...

This contribution focuses on the design of low-energy transfers between planetary moons and presents an efficient technique to compute trajectories characterized by desirable behaviors in the vicinities of the departure and destination bodies. The method utilizes finite-time Lyapunov exponent maps in combination with the Moon-to-Moon Analytical Tra...

This contribution focuses on the design of low-energy transfers between planetary moons and presents an efficient technique to compute trajectories characterized by desirable behaviors in the vicinities of the departure and destination bodies. The method utilizes finite-time Lyapunov exponent maps in combination with the moon-to-moon analytical tra...

The growth of the population of space debris in the geostationary ring and the resulting threat to active satellites require insight into the dynamics of uncontrolled objects in the region. A Monte Carlo simulation analyzed the sensitivity to initial conditions of the long-term evolution of geostationary spacecraft near an unstable point of the geo...

The construction of an analytic orbit theory that takes into account the main effects of the Geopotential is notably simplified when splitting the removal of periodic effects in several stages. Conversely, this splitting of the analytical solution into several transformations reduces the evaluation efficiency for dense ephemeris output. However, th...

The growth of the population of space debris in the geostationary ring and the resulting threat to active satellites require insight into the dynamics of uncontrolled objects in the region. A Monte Carlo simulation analyzed the sensitivity to initial conditions of the long-term evolution of geostationary spacecraft near an unstable point of the geo...

We present a novel concept for a small mission to the four inner large satellites of Saturn. Leveraging the high efficiency of electric propulsion, the concept enables orbit insertion around each of the moons, for arbitrarily long close observation periods. The mission starts with a EVVES interplanetary segment, where a combination of multiple grav...

This study proposes a new automated strategy for designing and optimizing three-dimensional interplanetary low-thrust (LT) trajectories. The method formulates the design as a hybrid optimal control problem and solves it using a two-step approach. In Step 1, a three-dimensional model based on generalized logarithmic spirals is used with heuristics i...

The giant planets have a special place in our quest for learning about the origins of our planetary system and the search for life. On its mission to Saturn, Cassini discovered water plumes containing complex organic molecules emanating from the sixth largest moon of Saturn, Enceladus. This discovery suggests that Enceladus and other inner large mo...

Satellites in Earth orbits are exposed to a variety of environmental perturbations that affect their attitude over time. Accurate analyses and simulations of the effect of each disturbance on the dynamics of a satellite constitute a very important step in the design of active and passive attitude controllers. The accuracy of the analysis depends on...

The objective of the present investigation is to present a framework to produce low-energy trajectories between the vicinities of adjacent moons of a planetary system leveraging libration point orbits in multi-body environments. The current development includes an extension of the Moon-to-Moon Analytical Transfer (MMAT) method previously proposed b...

Designing tours that involve two or more moons and potentially libration point orbits is a challenging problem with many factors playing important roles. The focus of the present investigation is an efficient and general strategy that aids in the design of tour missions that involve transfers between two or more moons located in their true orbital...

All our knowledge about Saturn and its icy ring system comes from the data obtained during the flybys of Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and Cassini, as well as from the observations carried out by Hubble Space Telescope. The discovery of water vapor plumes at the poles of Enceladus and other compelling evidence of the existence of subsurface wate...

Given the interest in future space missions devoted to the exploration of key moons in the solar system and that may involve libration point orbits, an efficient design strategy for transfers between moons is introduced that leverages the dynamics in these multi-body systems. The moon-to-moon analytical transfer (MMAT) method is introduced, compris...

The focus of the present investigation is an efficient and general design strategy for transfers between planetary moons that fulfill specific requirements. The strategy leverages Finite-Time Lyapunov Exponent (FTLE) maps within the context of the Moon-to-Moon Analytical Transfer (MMAT) scheme previously proposed by the authors. Incorporating FTLE...

Given the interest in future space missions devoted to the exploration of key moons in the solar system and that may involve libration point orbits, an efficient design strategy for transfers between moons is introduced that leverages the dynamics in these multi-body systems. The moon-to-moon analytical transfer (MMAT) method is introduced, compris...

Performing orbital insertion around Mars using aerocapture instead of a propulsive orbit insertion manoeuvre allows to save resources and/or increase the payload mass fraction. Aerocapture has never been employed to date because of the high uncertainties in the parameters from which it depends, mainly related to atmospheric density modeling and nav...

Lambert's problem is the orbital boundary-value problem constrained by two points and elapsed time. It is one of the most extensively studied problems in celestial mechanics and astrodynamics, and, as such, it has always attracted the interest of mathematicians and engineers. Its solution lies at the base of algorithms for, e.g., orbit determinatio...

Fast and precise propagation of satellite orbits is required for mission design, orbit determination and payload data analysis. We present a method to improve the computational performance of numerical propagators and simultaneously maintain the accuracy level required by any particular application. This is achieved by determining the positional ac...

In nominal mission scenarios, geostationary satellites perform end-of-life orbit maneuvers to reach suitable disposal orbits, where they do not interfere with operational satellites. This research investigates the long-term orbit evolution of decommissioned geostationary satellite under the assumption that the disposal maneuver does not occur and t...

Performing orbital insertion around Mars using aerocapture instead of a propulsive orbit insertion manoeuvre allows to save resources and/or increase the payload mass fraction. Aerocapture has never been employed to date because of the high uncertainties in the parameters from which it depends, mainly related to atmospheric density modeling and nav...

Fast and precise propagation of satellite orbits is required for mission design, orbit determination and payload data analysis. We present a method to improve the computational performance of numerical propagators and simultaneously maintain the accuracy level required by any particular application. This is achieved by determining the positional ac...

In nominal mission scenarios, geostationary satellites perform end-of-life orbit maneuvers to reach suitable disposal orbits, where they do not interfere with operational satellites. This research investigates the long-term orbit evolution of decommissioned geostationary satellite under the assumption that the disposal maneuver does not occur and t...

This contribution investigates the properties of a category of orbits around Enceladus. The motivation is the interest in the in situ exploration of this moon following Cassini’s detection of plumes of water and organic compounds close to its south pole. In a previous investigation, a set of heteroclinic connections were designed between halo orbit...

The Tisserand graph (TG) is a graphical tool commonly employed in the preliminary design of gravity-assisted trajectories. The TG is a two-dimensional map showing essential orbital information regarding the Keplerian orbits resulting from the close passage by one or more massive bodies, given the magnitude of the hyperbolic excess speed (v∞) and th...

The discoveries made by Cassini of geyser-like jets of vapour and organic compounds at the southern polar region of Enceladus have given impulse to a detailed study of this moon. As a result, a number of mission plans for the in-situ robotic exploration of Enceladus have been proposed by scientific communities and leading space agencies. The missio...

The moons of the giant planets are getting into the focus of the next exploration missions to the outer solar system. The reason for this interest resides in their dynamical role within their respective systems and the signs of habitability suggested in some cases by surface and subsurface features. Flyby missions offer adequate recognition scenari...

Our knowledge about Uranus and its moons is scarce. To gain insight into the features of this planet and its satellites, an exploration mission is needed. Uranus axial tilt of 98⁰ requires a prohibitive amount of propellant for insertion into an equatorial orbit. To minimize the cost of the orbit insertion maneuver, a combination of low thrust (LT)...

Aerocapture is a technique to perform orbital insertion by transforming an orbit from hyperbolic to elliptical by a single pass through the atmosphere of a planet. The possibility of inserting a probe in orbit around Mars using the atmospheric drag instead of a Mars Orbit Insertion manoeuvre, allows to save resources or increase the payload mass fr...

Given the interest in future space missions devoted to the exploration of key moons in the Solar System and that may involve libration point orbits, an efficient design strategy for transfers between moons is introduced that leverages the dynamics in these multi-body systems. A general methodology for transfer design between the moons in any given...

Fast and precise propagation of satellite orbits is required for mission design, orbit determination in support of operations and payload data analysis. This demand must also comply with the different accuracy requirements set by a growing variety of scientific and service missions. This contribution proposes a method to improve the computational p...

The Tisserand graph (TG) is a graphical tool commonly employed in the preliminary design of gravity-assisted trajectories. The TG is a two-dimensional map showing essential orbital information regarding the Keplerian orbits resulting from the close passage by one or more massive bodies, given the magnitude of the hyperbolic excess speed ($v_{\infty...

The icy moons are in the focus of the exploration plans of the leading space agencies because of the indications of water-based life and geological activity observed in a number of these objects. In particular, the presence of geyser-like jets of water near Enceladus’ south pole has turned this moon of Saturn into a priority candidate to search for...

This contribution investigates the properties of a category of orbits around Enceladus. The motivation is the interest in the in situ exploration of this moon following the detection on behalf of Cassini of plumes of water and organic compounds close to its south pole. In a previous investigation, a set of heteroclinic transfers were designed betwe...

Orbit insertion at Saturn requires a large impulsive manoeuver due to the velocity difference between the spacecraft and the planet. This paper presents a strategy to reduce dramatically the hyperbolic excess speed at Saturn by means of deep-space electric propulsion. The inter-planetary trajectory includes a gravity assist at Jupiter, combined wit...

The icy moons are in the focus of the exploration plans of the leading space agencies because of the indications of water-based life and geological activity observed in a number of these objects. In particular, the presence of geyser-like jets of water near Enceladus' south pole has turned this moon of Saturn into a priority candidate to search for...

The description of the long-term dynamics of highly elliptic orbits under third-body perturbations may require an expansion of the disturbing function in series of the semi-major axes ratio up to higher orders. To avoid dealing with long series in trigonometric functions, we refer the motion to the apsidal frame and efficiently remove the short-per...

Orbit insertion at Saturn requires a large impulsive manoeuver due to the velocity difference between the spacecraft and the planet. This paper presents a strategy to reduce dramatically the hyperbolic excess speed at Saturn by means of deep-space electric propulsion. The interplanetary trajectory includes a gravity assist at Jupiter, combined with...

The description of the long-term dynamics of highly elliptic orbits under third-body perturbations may require an expansion of the disturbing function in series of the semi-major axes ratio up to higher orders. To avoid dealing with long series in trigonometric functions, we refer the motion to the apsidal frame and efficiently remove the short-per...

The minimum orbital intersection distance (MOID) is used as a measure to assess potential close approaches and collision risks between astronomical objects. Methods to calculate this quantity have been proposed in several previous publications. The most frequent case is that in which both objects have elliptical osculating orbits. When at least one...

The moons of the giant planets are getting into the focus of the next exploration missions to the outer solar system. The reason for this interest resides in their dynamical role within their respective systems (e.g., Enceladus with respect to the E-ring of Saturn) and the signs of habitability suggested in some cases by surface and subsurface feat...

The minimum orbital intersection distance is used as a measure to assess potential close approaches and collision risks between astronomical objects. Methods to calculate this quantity have been proposed in several previous publications. The most frequent case is that in which both objects have elliptical osculating orbits. When at least one of the...

Based on Cassini’s findings, scientists think that the Saturn system is home to multiple moons that could be hospitable to life. This has given impulse to several mission proposals and to investigations on new, efficient and effective ways to reach and explore the major moons of Saturn and the ring system. The bulk of the proposed solutions is base...

REGULUS is a propulsion platform for CubeSats. It integrates the Magnetically Enhanced Thruster (MET) and its subsystems (i.e., fluidic line, electronics, and thermo-structural components) in a 2U envelope of weight lower than 3 kg. MET is a RF cathode-less thruster capable of providing thrust in the range 300 μN to 900 μN, with maximum specific im...

The recent discovery of potentially habitable planets orbiting the TRAPPIST-1 system intensified interest in interstellar exploration. In these challenging mission concepts, communication protocols would need to cope with unprecedented signal propagation delays. In this work, we propose and explore Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) technologies and a...

Lambert's problem is the two-point boundary-value problem resulting from a two-body orbital transfer between two position vectors in a given time. It lies at the very heart of several fundamental astrodynamics and space engineering problems and, as such, it has attracted the interest of scientists over centuries. In this work, we revisit the soluti...

We present and discuss a solution to the growing demand for satellite telecommunication coverage in the high-latitude geographical regions (beyond 55°N), where the signal from geostationary satellites is limited or unavailable. We focus on the dynamical issues associated to the design, the coverage, the maintenance and the disposal of a set of orbi...

In this contribution, an efficient technique to design direct (i.e., without intermediate flybys) low-energy trajectories in multi-moon systems is presented. The method relies on analytical two-body approximations of trajectories originating from the stable and unstable invariant manifolds of two coupled circular restricted three-body problems. We...

The Small Mars System is a proposed mission to Mars. Funded by the European Space Agency, the project has successfully completed Phase 0. The contractor is ALI S.c.a.r.l., and the study team includes the University of Naples “Federico II”, the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte and the Space Studies Institute of Catalonia. The objectives of th...

The Small Mars Satellite (SMS) is a low-cost mission to Mars, currently under feasibility studyfunded by the European Space Agency (ESA). The mission, whose estimated cost iswithin 120 MEuro,aims at delivering a smallLandertoMars using an innovativedeployable(umbrella-like)heat shield concept, known as IRENE (Italian ReEntry NacellE), developed and...

The Small Mars Satellite (SMS) is a proposed mission to Mars. The project is being funded by the General Studies Programme of the European Space Agency and has recently successfully concluded Phase 0 (feasibility study). The prime contractor is ALI S.c.a.r.l. (Naples), and the study team includes the University of Naples “Federico II” (UniNA), the...

Over the past two decades, the robotic exploration of the Solar System has reached the moons of the giant planets. In the case of Jupiter, a strong scientific interest towards its icy moons has motivated important space missions (e.g., ESAs’ JUICE and NASA’s Europa Mission). A major issue in this context is the design of efficient trajectories enab...

In this paper, two natural transport mechanisms in Solar System are considered. The first is a short-time transport, and is based on the existence of "pseudo-heteroclinic" connections between libration point orbits of pairs of Sun-planet planar circular restricted three-body problems (PCR3BP). The stable and unstable manifolds associated with the l...

Over the past three decades, ballistic and impulsive trajectories between libration point orbits (LPOs) in the Sun–Earth–Moon system have been investigated to a large extent. It is known that coupling invariant manifolds of LPOs of two different circular restricted three-body problems (i.e., the Sun–Earth and the Earth–Moon systems) can lead to sig...

Purpose of the present study is to provide algorithms for and examples of how to simulate star visibility and tracking by a Telescope attached to the main truss of the International Space Station (ISS).The sky visibility of a Telescope is limited by accommodation constraints on the truss, by obstructions caused by Station’s structural elements alon...

In the circular restricted three-body problem (CR3BP) the weak stability boundary (WSB) is defined as a boundary set in the phase space between stable and unstable motion relative to the second primary. At a given energy level, the boundaries of such region are provided by the stable manifolds of the central objects of the L1 and L2 libration point...

Of the three collinear libration points of the Sun–Earth Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem (CR3BP), L3 is that located opposite to the Earth with respect to the Sun and approximately at the same heliocentric distance. Whereas several space missions have been launched to the other two collinear equilibrium points, i.e., L1 and L2, taking advant...

Four widely used algorithms for the computation of the Earth’s gravitational potential and its first-, second- and third-order gradients are examined: the traditional increasing degree recursion in associated Legendre functions and its variant based on the Clenshaw summation, plus the methods of Pines and Cunningham–Metris, which are free from the...

This contribution deals with the derivation of explicit expressions of the gradients of first, second and third order of the gravitational potential. This is accomplished in the framework of tensor analysis which naturally allows to apply general formulae to the specific coordinate systems in use in geodesy. In particular it is recalled here that w...

The term Weak Stability Boundary (WSB) is related to a region of stable motion around the second primary of a circular restricted three-body problem (CR3BP). Previous work on this subject has shown that, at a given energy level, the boundaries of such region are provided by the stable manifolds of central objects of the L 1 and L 2 libration points...

This work is concerned with the comparison of four of the best-known methods for the computation of the gravitational potential and its gradients: the traditional formulation in terms of Associated Legendre Functions in spherical coordinates; the non-singular method of Pines; the algorithm developed by Cunningham and extended by Metris and collabor...