The co-orbital restricted three-body problem and its application.

Based on large quantities of co-orbital phenomena in the motion of natural bodies and spacecraft, a model of the co-orbital restricted three-body problem is put forward. The fundamental results for the planar co-orbital circular restricted three-body problem are given, which include the selection of variables and equations of motion, a set of approximation formulas, and an approximate semi-analytical solution. They are applied to the motion of the barycenter of the planned gravitational observatory LISA constellation, which agrees very well with the solution of precise numerical integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]