Hernandez/Jones/Jesick Io-Europa-Ganymede triple cyclers (Jovian family seed)

hernandez-2017-jovian-ieg-triple-family · source: literature · validation: V0

Signature

Bodies: Io-Europa-Ganymede
Primary: Jupiter
Sequence (canonical): Io-Europa-Ganymede
Sense: n/a
Orbit class: Cycler
strict cycler (infinite returns)
Cycler class: multi-arc
Trajectory regime: ballistic
Maintenance ΔV band: unclassified
Model assumption: circular-coplanar
Idealised: planets on circles, coplanar ecliptic.
Period: — yr ( × Io-Europa synodic)
The cyclers leverage the 1:2:4 Laplace resonance among Io, Europa, and Ganymede. Io's orbital period is 1.769 d, Europa's is 3.551 d, Ganymede's is 7.155 d; the Laplace resonance cadence sets the natural cycler period to a small integer multiple of Io's period (~1.77 d). The paper's abstract does not commit to a single period for the class; individual members are tabulated in the full AAS proceedings PDF which was not accessible to this ingest (AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference proceedings are paywalled / library-only).
Priority date: 2017-08-20

V∞ at encounters

Io (encounter 1): — (not published)
Individual member V_inf values are in the full Hernandez 2017 paper which was not accessible to this ingest. Family-seed entry.
Europa (encounter 2): — (not published)
Same — family seed.
Ganymede (encounter 3): — (not published)
Same — family seed.

Cycle-level identity (multi-arc invariants)

Aphelion ratio (AR): —
Turn ratio (TR): —
Transit times (days): —

Jovicentric (not heliocentric) orbital elements would apply. Triple cyclers traverse a wide region of the Tisserand graph in the Jovian system and are not characterised by a single (a, e).

Orbit view 2.5D ecliptic projection

spacecraft: idealized coplanar ellipse planets: J2000 osculating ellipse (Standish & Williams Table 1) orientation: coplanar-idealized (no Ω/ω published — in-plane ellipse)

3D view not available for multi-arc trajectories yet. The 3D system can now render a numerically-sampled polyline (n-body or multi-arc), but no sampled trajectory is published for this row — each leg is a separate ellipse with honest gaps where elements are unpublished (the 2D view above shows them). The button will appear here once a sampled path is exported for this trajectory; we never interpolate one from the catalogue's per-leg (a, e).

— — planet orbit (true J2000 ellipse)

Definition status

incomplete — core fields missing or known-unknowns tracked below

Known-unknowns (3)

Values we expect to exist but have not yet filled (distinct from "not applicable"). Tracked per upstream docs/spec.md §16.6.4.

orbit_elements.cr3bp.jacobi_constant [not-applicable]
This entry uses circular-coplanar patched-conic model (model_assumption: circular-coplanar), not CR3BP. Jacobi constant is not a conserved quantity in this model. CR3BP dynamical identity for Jovian moon cyclers would require the Jupiter-moon restricted three-body problem, which uses a different mass ratio per moon pair.

source: Full Hernandez et al. 2017 paper (AAS proceedings)
orbit_elements.cr3bp.period_nd [not-applicable]
Patched-conic model; non-dimensional CR3BP period not applicable.

source: Full Hernandez et al. 2017 paper
orbit_elements.cr3bp.stability_index [not-applicable]
Patched-conic model; CR3BP stability index not applicable.

source: Full Hernandez et al. 2017 paper

Primary citation

Hernandez, S. et al. (2017). One Class of Io-Europa-Ganymede Triple Cyclers. AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, Stevenson WA (Columbia River Gorge), August 20-24, 2017; published in Advances in the Astronautical Sciences Vol. 162, Univelt Inc., pp. 973-984.

URL: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ONE-CLASS-OF-IO-EUROPA-GANYMEDE-TRIPLE-CYCLERS-Hernandez-Jones/7e1de63096852b5422107ffc23a9312ea3de54f3

Author ordering per Semantic Scholar and citation in the SciOpen review "Review of Trajectory Design and Optimization for Jovian System Exploration" (Hernandez first author, then Jones, then Jesick). NB this is DIFFERENT from the Jones/Hernandez/Jesick ordering used for their heliocentric VEM-triple-cycler sibling paper (AAS 17-577, already catalogued as `jones-2017-vem-triple-family`). The AAS paper number for this Jovian paper could not be confirmed in accessible material; one candidate is AAS 17-608 (per the task brief's prior research) but this was not verifiable in the conference programme PDFs that were accessible at ingest time. Cite by conference and year until paper number can be confirmed.

Corroborating sources

Yang, H. & et al. (2024). Callisto-Ganymede-Europa Triple Cyclers. Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics. DOI: 10.2514/1.G008387
Follow-up work in the same Jovian-triple-cycler space; uses Callisto-Ganymede-Europa instead of Io-Europa-Ganymede. Reports double-cycler periods of ~50 d and a triple-cycler period of ~100 d for the Callisto class. Cited as corroboration that the Jovian-triple-cycler research line is active.
Russell, R. P. & Strange, N. J. (2009). Cycler Trajectories in Planetary Moon Systems. Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 143-157. DOI: 10.2514/1.36610
Earlier ballistic-cycler enumeration in the Jovian system; double cyclers (Ganymede-Io, Ganymede-Europa, Ganymede-Callisto, Europa-Ganymede) but not the IEG triple. Provides the methodological precursor.

Notes

Jovian sibling of the heliocentric Jones/Hernandez/Jesick 2017 VEM-triple paper already in this catalogue. Both papers come from the same JPL team using the same patched-conic + Lambert methodology. The Jovian version exploits the near-perfect Laplace 1:2:4 resonance among Io/Europa/Ganymede, which makes the cycler geometry particularly exact in the simplified model. Per the abstract (search.semanticscholar.org via web search): "Ballistic cycler trajectories that repeatedly encounter the Jovian moons Ganymede, Europa, and Io are investigated, with the 1:2:4 orbital resonance among these moons allowing for trajectories that periodically fly by the three bodies and repeat indefinitely. ... These cyclers are particularly exact due to the near perfect resonance of the moons." Family-seed entry per the same convention as the VEM-triple sibling. Individual members must be split out as per-entry records once the full paper text is accessible.

Source quotes (per-field provenance)

Every numerical value in this entry traces to a verbatim or paraphrased quote from a cited source.

first_published.title: Semantic Scholar metadata for paper 7e1de63096852b5422107ffc23a9312ea3de54f3: "ONE CLASS OF IO-EUROPA-GANYMEDE TRIPLE CYCLERS" by Hernandez, Jones, Jesick.
first_published.venue: Astrodynamics 2017 proceedings (Stanford SearchWorks record 12735401) describes the conference as "AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference held August 20-24, 2017, Columbia River Gorge, Stevenson, Washington, U.S.A." The Univelt "Advances in the Astronautical Sciences" Vol. 162 page range "pp. 973-984" is per the SciOpen review citation table.
notes: Abstract (via web search of Semantic Scholar landing page): "the 1:2:4 orbital resonance among these moons allowing for trajectories that periodically fly by the three bodies and repeat indefinitely... These cyclers are particularly exact due to the near perfect resonance of the moons."