
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 of Global Navigation Satellite System dynamics and show analytically that near-circular trajectories lie in the neighborhood of a Normally Hyperbolic Invariant Manifold (NHIM), which is the primary source of hyperbolicity. Quasicircular orbits escape through chaotic transport, regulated by NHIM’s stable and unstable manifolds, following a power-law escape time distribution P(t)∼t−α, with α∼0.8−1.5. Our study is highly relevant for the design of satellite disposal trajectories, using manifold dynamics.
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP), Physics - Space Physics, FOS: Mathematics, FOS: Physical sciences, Dynamical Systems (math.DS), Mathematics - Dynamical Systems, Chaotic Dynamics (nlin.CD), Nonlinear Sciences - Chaotic Dynamics, Space Physics (physics.space-ph), Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP), Physics - Space Physics, FOS: Mathematics, FOS: Physical sciences, Dynamical Systems (math.DS), Mathematics - Dynamical Systems, Chaotic Dynamics (nlin.CD), Nonlinear Sciences - Chaotic Dynamics, Space Physics (physics.space-ph), Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
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