Introduction

This volume contains the detailed text of the major lectures delivered during the I-CELMECH Training School 2020 held in Milan (Italy). The school aimed to present a contemporary review of recent results in the field of celestial mechanics, with special emphasis on theoretical aspects. The stability of the Solar System, the rotations of celestial bodies and orbit determination, as well as the novel scientific needs raised by the discovery of exoplanetary systems, the management of the space debris problem and the modern space mission design are some of the fundamental problems in the modern developments of celestial mechanics. This book covers different topics, such as Hamiltonian normal forms, the three-body problem, the Euler (or two-centre) problem, conservative and dissipative standard maps and spin-orbit problems, rotational dynamics of extended bodies, Arnold diffusion, orbit determination, space debris, Fast Lyapunov Indicators (FLI), transit orbits and answer to a crucial question, how did Kepler discover his celebrated laws? Thus, the book is a valuable resource for graduate students and researchers in the field of celestial mechanics and aerospace engineering.