Motion of a small satellite in planar multibody surroundings (Q1977246)

To predict the motion of a small body such as the NASA near satellite approaching asteroid Mathilde, it is necessary to study a multibody system. In this paper the author gives several references for such a work. In fact, the problem is studied by constructing simple \(N\)-body models based on general geometrical aspects of real configurations. For instance, to approach the motion of a small body in the asteroid belt, the author considers the circular distribution of thousand of asteroids around the Sun by assuming that all the asteroids have almost the same sizes and masses. It is s planar \((N+1)\)-body model, which the author calls the ring problem.