Chaotic Highways: Unveiling Transport Pathways in Space and Fluids

Event Date/Time

Location

Bowen Hall
222

Series/Event Type

MAE Departmental Seminars

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Shane Ross

The gravitational interactions between masses generate a complex network of dynamical passageways that weave around the Sun, planets, and moons. These corridors are closely associated with manifolds in phase space, connecting regions of near-equilibrium or unstable periodic motion in interlinked restricted three-body problems. Collaborative research has been exploring this intricate interplanetary transport network, revealing its potential to facilitate energy-efficient exploration of the Moon, asteroids, and other regions of the solar system. We will summarize these ideas, including their relationship to other problem domains, particularly environmental fluid transport, with applications to trans-oceanic airborne dispersal of dust and plant diseases, even the spread of persons-in-water for ocean search-and-rescue.
 


 

Speaker Bio

Shane D. Ross is a professor in the Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech. He is the author of over 100 publications in the areas of mechanics and nonlinear dynamics, related to areas such as spacecraft control, transport and mixing in fluids, and bio-locomotion. He received an NSF CAREER Award, awards from NASA and AIAA, and has coauthored a book on Dynamical Systems, the Three-Body Problem, and Space Mission Design. His work has been featured in Nature, Scientific American, Astronomy, Discover and other high-profile venues. His research group works on a variety of projects for the NSF, USDA, USSF, AFOSR and industry. Ross’ teaching videos have been viewed over a million times on his prolific YouTube channel RossDynamicsLab with nearly 300 videos. A native of California, his BS and PhD are both from Caltech.

Faculty Host

Beeson

Semester