Shane Ross

Title

The Interplanetary Transport Network: Mapping Chaotic Motion Through the Solar System

Abstract

The competing gravitational pull between celestial bodies creates a vast array of passageways that winds around the sun, planets and moons. These corridors are tube-like structures connecting regions of balance in interlinked three body problems. A recent collaboration of researchers has begun exploring this complex interplanetary transport network, which not only influences the fate of comets, but may facilitate the exploration of the Moon, the asteroids, and the outer solar system, including a mission to assess the possibility of life on Jupiter's icy moons. The talk will summarize these ideas, including their relationship to other dynamical systems problems in chemistry and fluid flow.