“Astrodynamics Applications: Perspectives on Stretching Directions in Cislunar Space”

The exploration of deep space relies on advanced astrodynamics techniques to navigate complex gravitational environments. This presentation examines key applications in space mission design, with particular emphasis on the circular restricted three-body problem. Within the Earth–Moon system, near rectilinear halo orbits (NRHOs) about the L1 and L2 Lagrange points have been proposed as long-duration trajectories for cislunar exploration, including NASA’s upcoming Gateway mission. These orbits are stable or only weakly unstable and therefore lack clearly defined stable and unstable manifold structures. As a result, traditional design and control approaches that rely on invariant manifolds become less effective for both transfer trajectory design and stationkeeping. To address this limitation, this work investigates the use of stretching directions to characterize the flow of perturbations in the vicinity of a reference trajectory. These directions provide a framework for analyzing the effects of maneuvers in two fundamentally contrasting applications: transfer design and stationkeeping. Furthermore, the presentation also highlights broader applications of nonlinear dynamical structures in cislunar space, including proximity operations, trajectory tracking, and guidance and navigation considerations in multi-body environments. These topics are discussed in the context of the challenges and opportunities associated with current and future cislunar missions, including NASA’s Lunar Gateway.

Dr. Vivek Muralidharan is an Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering in the Department of Aerospace, Physics and Space Sciences at Florida Institute of Technology. He previously worked as a Flight Dynamics Engineer at ICEYE in Finland, managing orbit control activities for a fleet of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites, and as a Research Associate at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT), University of Luxembourg. Dr. Muralidharan graduated with a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), India in 2015. He then received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University, USA, in 2017 and 2021, respectively. While at Purdue University, Dr. Muralidharan’s research focus includes orbital dynamics, the circular-restricted three-body problem, stationkeeping strategies, orbit determination, as well as guidance, navigation and control. He has also contributed to projects at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology in Thiruvananthapuram, India, and Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) in Massachusetts, USA. Dr. Muralidharan featured in the 2022 list of “20 under 35” published by Space and Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) and was a finalist for the Luigi G. Napolitano Award at the 73rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2022.

Tea/Coffee at 10:45 AM