Road Trip On The Interplanetary Superhighway

eegad writes: "CNN has an article about a new idea from NASA springing from chaos theory called the interplanetary superhighway. It will purportedly allow easier space travel by steering through regions where the net gravitational force exerted by nearby bodies is smallest. The actual NASA news release is here. Sounds like an interesting concept but it is unclear how the scientists will account for every source of gravity, including the elusive dark matter."

Comments

Chaos theory mandates this

[WolfWithoutAClause]

The point is that the earlier you know that you are off the correct path, the earlier you can correct it, the less fuel you need to spend.

Contrary to what you say, the position of the planets is known to astonishing accuracy- it's only over millions of years that they move significantly chaotically, over a few months their position is entirely known.

A small body bouncing around between them is rather different however- that can be very chaotic.

Plotting a course through the solar system is quite routinely achieved. Remember Voyager?

Uh, wouldn't there be *TWO* such points? Think about it.

Do a web search on Lagrange points, you'll find it. There's 5. One between the earth and moon, one the other side of the moon, one opposite from the moon, one 60 degrees ahead of the moon and one 60 degrees behind.