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CEAS EuroGNC 2026

Electrodynamic Tethers in the Earth-Moon CR3BP: Stability Mapping under Lorentz Forcing
Elisa Velasco Romeo Masters Student, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganés, Spain.
Behrad Vatankhahghadim Visiting Professor, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganés, Spain.
Abstract:
Electrodynamic tethers (EDTs) are long, conductive wires or tapes deployed from spacecraft that enable energy generation and propellantless thrust when moving in a planetary magnetic field. This work extends a planar Earth-Moon Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem (CR3BP) model by including the EDT Lorentz force term with a controllable in-plane tether tilt relative to the local radial direction. Using dense grids of initial conditions, both local (around the five Lagrange points) and global (Earth-Moon synodic frame) escape-time and exit-basin stability maps are constructed to quantify how sustained EDT actuation influences stability patterns and transport pathways. Consistent with the expected results from the CR3BP, it is found that the large stable regions of the Earth-Moon system are not greatly affected by the EDT forcing. However, the exit patterns near the Earth display modified escape-time structures and altered transport routes. The addition of the Lorentz acceleration to the equations of motion enables adjustment of the tether current and tilt to target residence times near the collinear Lagrange points L1 and L2 and to manage leakage at the periphery of the triangular L4 and L5 points.
Keywords: Electrodynamic tethers; Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem; Lagrange points; Lorentz force; escape-time maps; exit-basin maps; tether tilt
 View PDF CEAS-GNC-2026-105 doi: 10.82124/CEAS-GNC-2026-105


Elisa Velasco Romeo, Behrad Vatankhahghadim: Electrodynamic Tethers in the Earth-Moon CR3BP: Stability Mapping under Lorentz Forcing. Proceedings of the 2026 CEAS EuroGNC conference. Madrid, Spain. May 2026. doi: 10.82124/CEAS-GNC-2026-105.
BibTeX entry (UTF-8):

@Incollection{CEAS-GNC-2026-105,
    author = {Velasco Romeo, Elisa and Vatankhahghadim, Behrad},
    title = {Electrodynamic Tethers in the Earth-Moon CR3BP: Stability Mapping under Lorentz Forcing},
    booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2026 {CEAS EuroGNC} conference},
    address = {Madrid, Spain},
    month = may,
    year = {2026},
    doi = {10.82124/CEAS-GNC-2026-105}
}