Initial Condition Sensitivity

Author: Tianjiang Shuo

Website: https://cislunarspace.cn

Definition

The degree to which insertion precision affects formation maintenance capability. Near triangular libration points, most formations require extremely stringent initial velocity knowledge (on the order of micrometers per second), with the parallel formation being the sole exception. This indicates that uncontrolled formations cannot maintain expected configurations long-term near triangular libration points.

References

• Catlin and McLaughlin, 2007