Chaotic transport of navigation satellites

• DOI: 10.1063/1.5124682
• Publication Date: 2019-10-16T13:33:20Z
• Authors: Ioannis Gkolias; Jérôme Daquin; Despoina K. Skoul...; Kleomenis Tsiganis; Christos Efthymio...
• Keywords: Manifold (fluid mechanics)

Navigation satellites are known from numerical studies to reside in a dynamically sensitive environment, which may be of profound importance for their long-term sustainability. We derive the fundamental Hamiltonian GNSS dynamics and show analytically that near-circular trajectories lie neighborhood Normally Hyperbolic Invariant Manifold (NHIM), is primary source hyperbolicity. Quasi-circular orbits escape through chaotic transport, regulated by NHIM's stable unstable manifolds, following power-law time distribution $P(t) \sim t^{-\alpha}$, with $\alpha 0.8 - 1.5$. Our study highly relevant design satellite disposal trajectories, using manifold dynamics.