Asymptotic stability of synchronous orbits for a gravitating viscoelastic sphere

We study the dynamics of a viscoelastic body whose shape and position evolve due to the gravitational forces exerted by a pointlike planet. We work in the quadrupole approximation. We consider the solution in which the center of mass of the body moves on a circular orbit, and the body rotates in a synchronous way about its axis, so that it always shows the same face to the planet as the Moon does with the Earth. We prove that if any internal deformation of the body dissipates some energy, then such an orbit is locally asymptotically stable. The proof is based on the construction of a suitable system of coordinates and on the use of LaSalle’s principle. A large part of the paper is devoted to the analysis of the kinematics of an elastic body interacting with a gravitational field. We think this could have some interest in itself.