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The orbital dynamics of most planetary satellites is governed by the quadrupole moment from the equatorial bulge of the host planet and the tidal field from the Sun. On the Laplace surface, the long-term orbital evolution driven by the combined effects of these forces is zero, so that orbits have a fixed orientation and shape. The "classical" Laplace surface is defined for circular orbits, and coincides with the planet's equator at small planetocentric distances and with its orbital plane at large distances. A dissipative circumplanetary disk should settle to this surface, and hence satellites formed from such a disk are likely to orbit in or near the classical Laplace surface. This paper studies the properties of Laplace surfaces. Our principal results are: (1) if the planetary obliquity exceeds 68.• 875, there is a range of semimajor axes in which the classical Laplace surface is unstable; (2) at some obliquities and planetocentric distances, there is a distinct Laplace surface consisting of nested eccentric orbits, which bifurcates from the classical Laplace surface at the point where instability sets in; (3) there is also a "polar" Laplace surface perpendicular to the line of nodes of the planetary equator on the planetary orbit; (4) for circular orbits, the polar Laplace surface is stable at small planetocentric distances and unstable at large distances; (5) at the onset of instability, this polar Laplace surface bifurcates into two polar Laplace surfaces composed of nested eccentric orbits.

Numerical integration of the rotation of Mars shows that the obliquity of Mars undergoes large chaotic variations. These variations occur as the system evolves in the chaotic zone associated with a secular spin-orbit resonance.

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In the giant impact hypothesis for lunar origin, the Moon accreted from an equatorial circumterrestrial disk; however the current lunar orbital inclination of 5 • requires a subsequent dynamical process that is still debated 1-3 . In addition, the giant impact theory has been challenged by the Moon's unexpectedly Earth-like isotopic composition 4, 5 . Here, we show that tidal dissipation due to lunar obliquity was an important effect during the Moon's tidal evolution, and the past lunar inclination must have been very large, defying theoretical explanations. We present a new tidal evolution model starting with the Moon in an equatorial orbit around an initially fast-spinning, high-obliquity Earth, which is a probable outcome of giant impacts. Using numerical modeling, we show that the solar perturbations on the Moon's orbit naturally induce a large lunar inclination and remove angular momentum from the 1 arXiv:1802.03356v1 [astro-ph.EP] 9 Feb 2018 Earth-Moon system. Our tidal evolution model supports recent high-angular momentum giant impact scenarios to explain the Moon's isotopic composition 6-8 and provides a new pathway to reach Earth's climatically favorable low obliquity.The leading theory for lunar origin is the giant impact 9, 10 , which explains the Moon's large relative size and small iron core. Here we refer to the giant impact theory in which the Earth-Moon post-impact angular momentum (AM) was the same as it is now (in agreement with classic lunar tidal evolution studies 11, 12 ) as "canonical". In the canonical giant impact model 13 , a Mars-mass body obliquely impacts the proto-Earth near the escape velocity to generate a circum-terrestrial debris disk. The angular momentum of the system is set by the impact, and the Moon accretes from the disk, which is predominantly (> 60 wt%) composed of impactor material. However, Earth and the Moon share nearly identical isotope ratios for a wide range of elements, and this isotopic signature is distinct from all other extraterrestrial materials 4, 5 . Because isotopic variations arise from multiple processes 4 , the Moon must have formed from, or equilibrated with, Earth's mantle 5,14 . Earth-Moon isotopic equilibration in the canonical model has been proposed by Pahlevan and Stevenson 15 , but has been questioned by other researchers 16 , who suggest that the large amount of mass exchange required to homogenize isotopes could lead to the collapse of the proto-lunar disk.Cuk and Stewart 6 proposed a new variant of the giant impact that is based on an initially high AM Earth-Moon system. In this model, a late erosive impact onto a fast-spinning proto-Earth produced a disk that was massive enough to form the Moon, and was composed primarily of material from Earth, potentially satisfying the isotopic observations. Canup 7 presented a variation of a high-