Extraction and Visualization of Poincare Map Topology for Spacecraft Trajectory Design.

Mission designers must study many dynamical models to plan a low-cost spacecraft trajectory that satisfies mission constraints. They routinely use Poincare maps to search for a suitable path through the interconnected web of periodic orbits and invariant manifolds found in multi-body gravitational systems. This paper is concerned with the extraction and interactive visual exploration of this structural landscape to assist spacecraft trajectory planning.

Transfer of impact ejecta material from the surface of Mars to Phobos and Deimos.

The Russian Phobos-Grunt spacecraft originally planned to return a 200 g sample of surface material from Phobos to Earth. Although it was anticipated that this material would mainly be from the body of Phobos, there is a possibility that such a sample may also contain material ejected from the surface of Mars by large impacts. An analysis of this possibility is completed by using current knowledge of aspects of impact cratering on the surface of Mars and the production of high-speed ejecta that might reach Phobos or Deimos.