Russell-Ocampo cycler 6.44Gg3 (3-synodic NEAR-ballistic, long transit, low V_inf at Mars)

russell-ch4-6.44Gg3 · source: literature · validation: V1

Signature

Bodies: E-M
Primary: Sun (default — heliocentric)
Sequence (canonical): E-E-E-M-M
Sense: outbound
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: 6.410 yr (3 × E-M synodic)
Maintenance ΔV: 0.509 km/s — near-ballistic (powered nudge)
Priority date: 2003-02-09

V∞ at encounters

E (encounter 1): 6.44 km/s
Russell 2004 Table 4.13 row 5655: v_inf E = 6.44 km/s.
M (encounter 2): 3.74 km/s
Russell 2004 Table 4.13: v_inf M = 3.74 km/s. Notably low V_inf at Mars, but compensated by long 262-day transit (Russell line 5607).

Cycle-level identity (multi-arc invariants)

Aphelion ratio (AR): —
Turn ratio (TR): 0.95
Transit times (days): 262 d, 262 d

Russell 2004 Table 4.13: aphel = 1.54 AU. Low aphelion — barely above Mars's circular-orbit radius of 1.52 AU.

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no sampled trajectory is published for this row — each leg is a separate ellipse with honest gaps where elements are unpublished (the 2D view above shows them).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) ◌ max aphelion ring (sourced)

Not-published gaps (never interpolated):

E → M — segment elements (a, e) not published; no curve drawn.
M → E — segment elements (a, e) not published; no curve drawn.
E → E — segment elements (a, e) not published; no curve drawn.
E → E — segment elements (a, e) not published; no curve drawn.

Real DE440 encounter dates (5)

2026-12-30 V∞ 6.60 / 3.57 km/s
2029-02-07 V∞ 6.23 / 4.81 km/s
2032-11-18 V∞ 6.54 / 4.78 km/s
2035-02-26 V∞ 6.44 / 3.94 km/s
2035-08-25 V∞ 6.03 / 3.66 km/s

Real, verifiable JPL DE440 geometric-match dates (see Launch windows). Positions on the map are idealized; these are the true dates.

Legs (trajectory segments)

E → M: 262 d, 0 revs
Russell 2004 Table 4.13 row 5655: t_out = 262 days — the longest E-M transit in Table 4.13. The long transit minimises V_inf at Mars.
M → E: 262 d, 0 revs
Russell 2004 Table 4.13: t_in = 262 days (symmetric generic returns).
E → E: (TOF not published)
Intermediate Earth-Earth loop 1 of 2 for this 3-synodic cycler (sequence E-E-E-M-M); fills part of the 6.41-yr period between Mars encounters. Multi-rev arc — tof_days / n_revs / branch / (a,e) to be set by the multi-rev Lambert solver.
E → E: (TOF not published)
Intermediate Earth-Earth loop 2 of 2 for this 3-synodic cycler (sequence E-E-E-M-M); fills part of the 6.41-yr period between Mars encounters. Multi-rev arc — tof_days / n_revs / branch / (a,e) to be set by the multi-rev Lambert solver.

Free-return arcs (Russell decomposition)

Russell's Earth-to-Earth free-return arcs (spec §16.7.7) — a decomposition distinct from the encounter legs above. A single arc spans what the catalogue models as two or more encounter segments.

Arc type	Resonance	TOF (yr)	Raw descriptor
generic	—	2.087	g(2.087,1111.33,L)
generic	—	4.3191	G(4.3191,1194.88,L)

Definition status

incomplete — core fields missing or known-unknowns tracked below

Family: Russell 3-synodic Earth-Mars ballistic · Russell-Ocampo cycler code

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.

trajectory.segments[loop-ee-*] [derive]
The 2 intermediate Earth-Earth loop arc(s) tof_days / n_revs / branch / (a,e) are computable once the multi-rev Lambert solver closes the arc(s) to the published 6.44/3.74 km/s V-infinity; not yet derived. Russell 2004 tabulates only t_out/t_in + the aggregate aphelion, not the loop arc(s).

source: multi-rev Lambert solver; Russell 2004 Table 4.x leg descriptors
trajectory.segments[out-em].a_au [unknown]
Per-segment (a,e) of the outbound generic-return arc not tabulated by Russell 2004 (orbit_elements.a_au/e are null for the same reason — each generic-return arc has its own (a,e); only the aggregate aphelion is well-defined).

source: Russell 2004 dissertation Table 4.x leg descriptors g(...)/G(...)
trajectory.segments[ret-me].a_au [unknown]
Per-segment (a,e) of the return generic-return arc not tabulated by Russell 2004; same source gap as out-em.

source: Russell 2004 dissertation Table 4.x leg descriptors g(...)/G(...)

Primary citation

Russell, R. P. & Ocampo, C. A. (2003). Global Search and Optimization for Free-Return Earth-Mars Cyclers. AAS Paper 03-145.

orbit source Russell 2004, Tables 4.9 / 4.13 orbit fidelity circular-coplanar V∞ source Russell 2004, Tables 4.9 / 4.13 V∞ fidelity circular-coplanar

Corroborating sources

Russell, R. P. (2004). Global Search and Optimization for Free-Return Earth-Mars Cyclers. PhD dissertation, UT Austin. · link
Dissertation line 5607: 'Cycler 6.44Gg has a very long transit time resulting in a low v∞ at Mars.' TR = 0.95 (near-ballistic; requires small powered nudge).

Notes

NEAR-BALLISTIC: TR = 0.95 < 1.0, so the cycler requires a small powered correction to close in the simple model. Per Russell line 5603-5605: "Table 4.13 results from reducing the minimum turn ratio from 1.00, the requirement for a ballistic cycler, to 0.95." The `trajectory_regime: ballistic` field is retained because Russell groups Table 4.13 with the ballistic family throughout Chapter 4 (the relaxed TR threshold is treated as a near-ballistic perturbation). Consumers doing rigorous powered-flyby ΔV accounting should compute the small residual (typically << 100 m/s). Leg descriptor: g(2.087,1111.33,L) G(4.3191,1194.88,L) — two generic returns, both with the lowercase 'L' indicating the designated outbound leg. The Aldrin cycler is also documented (dissertation line 5613) at TR=0.91 which is below the Table 4.13 threshold of 0.95; accordingly it is described in the surrounding text rather than in the table itself.

Source quotes (per-field provenance)

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

delta_v_kms: Derived from Russell 2004's tabulated AR / TR via the M2 powered-flyby surrogate (src/cyclerfinder/core/flyby.py): ΔV ≈ (V∞_E + V∞_M) × max(0, 1 − TR) + (1 − AR) × (V∞_E + V∞_M) × 0.025 [AR-correction term active only when AR < 1]. Upper bound; biases near-ballistic entries toward 'requires nudge'. Strict-ballistic rows (AR ≥ 1 AND TR ≥ 1) give ΔV = 0 exactly. AR/TR primary values: Russell 2004 Table 4.13 row 6.44 Gg: aphel=1.54 AU, TR=0.95, v∞E=6.44, v∞M=3.74.
vinf_kms_at_encounters[0].vinf_kms: Russell 2004 Table 4.13 row 5655: v_inf E = 6.44.
vinf_kms_at_encounters[1].vinf_kms: Russell 2004 Table 4.13: v_inf M = 3.74.
legs[0].tof_days: Russell 2004 Table 4.13: t_out = 262.
legs[1].tof_days: Russell 2004 Table 4.13: t_in = 262.
orbit_elements.aphelion_au: Russell 2004 Table 4.13: aphel = 1.54 AU.
name: Russell 2004 dissertation line 5607: "Cycler 6.44Gg has a very long transit time resulting in a low v∞ at Mars."