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Geometers Engineer New Tools to Wrangle Spacecraft Orbits

Mathematicians think abstract tools from a field called symplectic geometry might help with planning missions to far-off moons and planets.

In 2021, Koh came across a paper that discussed how to grapple with chaotic orbits from the perspective of symplectic geometry, an abstract field of math that is generally far removed from messy real-world details. The two began working together, seeking to apply Moreno’s abstract techniques to the Jupiter-Europa system and to Saturn and its moon Enceladus, which, like Europa, might have life in its underground ocean. Since the early 17th century, when Johannes Kepler formulated his laws, physicists and mathematicians have had a firm grasp on how to describe the motion of two bodies subject to gravity.

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