Exploration of tight confinement near the triangular points in the Sun–(Earth–Moon) system

Abstract

This work explores practical confinement near the equilateral equlibria of the Sun–(Earth–Moon) system. Trajectories initialized on a paraboloid around L5$$L_5$$ were integrated to map survival regions and identify tightly confined orbits. For planar motion, robust confinement associated with quasi-periodic structures was observed within a few thousand kilometers from the equilibrium point. Vertical perturbations, however, led to rapid dispersion, with orbit excursions reaching millions of kilometers. A secondary confinement zone, in which localized oscillations over limited timescales occur, was detected. The results could support mission concepts related to temporary observation posts, but further work is needed to assess their persistence under solar radiation pressure and to characterize the associated invariant manifolds.