Orbital analysis in generalised solar sail problem with Stokes drag effect

The study of orbits about the artificial equilibrium points of the solar sail problem (or satellite equipped with solar sail) is an important part for a mission design. This paper investigates about the motion of a solar sail in the presence of oblate primaries and Stokes drag effect. First, we have formulated solar sail problem and then determined the artificial equilibrium points (AEPs). It is found that due to Stokes drag, collinear AEPs do not exist but two non-collinear AEPs \(({\bar{L}}_{4,5})\) $({\overline{L}}_{4,5})$ exist, which are asymptotically stable with respect to all values of oblateness \((A_{1,2})\) $(A_{1,2})$ as well as dissipative constant (k), whereas relative to sail lightness number \((\beta )\) $(\beta )$ , these are asymptotically stable for the range \(0\le \beta <0.4102\) $0\le \beta <0.4102$ . Again, the long as well as short periodic orbits are determined and impact of perturbing factors are observed by finding the amplitude, time period and phase of the respective orbits. Further, tadpole orbit of the solar sail near AEPs \({\bar{L}}_{4,5}\) ${\overline{L}}_{4,5}$ are computed and effect of perturbations are analysed on the basis of number of loops and its shape in the orbits.