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Jones/Hernandez/Jesick VEM triple cyclers (family seed entry)

jones-2017-vem-triple-family · source: literature · validation: V0

Signature

Bodies

V-E-M

Primary

Sun (default — heliocentric)

Sequence (canonical)

V-E-M

Sense

n/a

Orbit class

Cycler

strict cycler (infinite returns)

Cycler class

single-ellipse

Trajectory regime

ballistic

Maintenance ΔV band

unclassified

Model assumption

analytic-ephemeris

Mid-fidelity: real eccentricity / inclination retained; not full N-body.

Period

12.800 yr (2 × VEM-syn synodic)

CORRECTED 2026-06-05 per AAS 17-577 full-paper mining. Jones et al. 2017 p.3 defines the synodic period explicitly: "The time it takes to repeat a given angular alignment of the three planets (the synodic period T_syn) is approximately 6.4 years. This is about three Earth- Mars synodic periods." Therefore "two synodic period" in this paper means 2 x T_syn = 12.8 yr, NOT 2 x the 2.135-yr E-M synodic (= 4.27 yr). Confirmed on p.9: "Recall that the repeat period T is 12.8 years." The earlier 4.27-yr value was the alternate (E-M synodic) reading flagged in data_gaps[period.basis]; the source now resolves it toward 12.8 yr. The separate 2.13-yr number is the E-M *opportunity* spacing (p.3: "The opportunities open every 2.13 years"), not the repeat period.

Priority date

2017-08-20

V∞ at encounters

V (encounter 1)

— (not published)

Family-level entry — individual member V_inf values are in the full Jones 2017 paper which is not freely accessible online (NTRS metadata-only).

E (encounter 2)

— (not published)

Abstract reports "numerous solutions are identified with average transit leg excess speed below 5 km/sec, independent of encounter epoch." That is an *average* — individual encounter V_inf values not in the abstract.

M (encounter 3)

— (not published)

Same: average transit leg V_inf below 5 km/s per the abstract; individual values TBD.

Orbit elements (heliocentric)

Semi-major axis a

— AU

Eccentricity e

—

Perihelion

— AU

Aphelion

— AU

Inclination

—°

Triple cyclers traverse a wider Tisserand graph region; no single (a, e) characterises the family. Individual members would have their own elements.

Definition status

incomplete — core fields missing or known-unknowns tracked below

Known-unknowns (1)

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

• period.basis [resolved]
  RESOLVED 2026-06-05 against the AAS 17-577 full paper (NTRS 20190028464). The earlier ambiguity — whether "two synodic period" meant 2 x the 2.135-yr E-M synodic (4.27 yr) or 2 x the 6.4-yr VEM T_syn (12.8 yr) — is settled by p.3: "the synodic period T_syn... is approximately 6.4 years. This is about three Earth-Mars synodic periods" and p.9: "Recall that the repeat period T is 12.8 years." The repeat period is therefore 12.8 yr (period.years corrected from 4.27 to 12.8). A per-pair (pair,k) basis decomposition is still not tabulated as integer resonances in the paper (T_syn ≈ 3 E-M ≈ 4 E-V is approximate, p.3), so period.basis is left absent per golden-discipline.
  source: Jones, Hernandez, Jesick 2017 (AAS 17-577) p.3, p.9

Primary citation

Jones, D. R. et al. (2017). Low Excess Speed Triple Cyclers of Venus, Earth, and Mars. AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, Stevenson WA, AAS Paper 17-577 (JPL-CL#17-3322).

URL: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20190028464

"hdl:2014/46418" is the JPL Open Repository handle for the report. The paper is the first published account of ballistic VEM triple cyclers. The Longuski group has subsequent related work but this is the priority publication.

Notes

REVIEW CONFIRMATION (2026-05-31): A verification check of AAS Paper 17-577 confirms Longuski is NOT an author; the authors are exclusively Jones, Hernandez, and Jesick (all JPL). spec.md §16.4 has been patched in the corresponding errata pass. INTERPRETATION NOTE (2026-05-31, CORRECTED 2026-06-05): this entry's "two synodic period" interpretation was originally recorded as period.years = 4.27 (2 x E-M synodic). The AAS 17-577 full-paper mining (docs/notes/2026-06-05-jones-aas17-577-vem-mining.md) shows this was INCORRECT: the paper's T_syn is the 6.4-yr VEM synodic, so "two synodic period" = 12.8 yr (p.9: "the repeat period T is 12.8 years"). period.years is corrected to 12.8. Two fully-tabulated members of this family are now ingested as separate rows: `jones-2017-vem-emevve-outbound` (Table 2) and `jones-2017-vem-meevem-inbound` (Table 3). The sibling `vem-emeeve-3syn` captured a 6.4-yr (1-synodic) reading which the paper found to be EMPTY (no feasible solutions — p.8); see that row's data_gaps. Per the abstract: "Ballistic cycler trajectories which repeatedly encounter Earth and Mars may be invaluable to a future transportation architecture ferrying humans to and from Mars. Such trajectories which also involve at least one flyby of Venus are computed here for the first time." Web search snippet: "The paper discovered thousands of previously undocumented two synodic period Earth-Mars-Venus triple cyclers, with many solutions identified having average transit leg excess speed below 5 km/sec, independent of encounter epoch." This entry is INTENTIONALLY a family/placeholder. As individual members are tabulated (from the full Jones 2017 paper or follow-up work) they should be added as separate entries with their own canonical signatures. Until then, M7 novelty matching against this entry should be treated as "candidate-novel if no exact match, but flagged for human review against the Jones 2017 paper" rather than auto-tagging as known. Caveat about the spec §16.4's mention of "Longuski et al. (2017) Low Excess Speed Triple Cyclers": the actual primary authors are Jones, Hernandez, Jesick (all JPL), not Longuski. Longuski is the Purdue advisor of multiple cited co-authors (McConaghy, Landau, Yam, Chen,...) but is not a Jones 2017 author. The spec's attribution should be corrected in a future revision.

Source quotes (per-field provenance)

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

period.k

Jones et al. 2017 abstract: "two synodic period Earth-Mars-Venus triple cyclers" (multiple search snippets, NTRS 20190028464).

vinf_kms_at_encounters[1].vinf_kms

Jones et al. 2017 abstract: "numerous solutions are identified with average transit leg excess speed below 5 km/sec, independent of encounter epoch." (NB: this is an average across all members of the family, not a single cycler's V_inf.)