A Method to Design Efficient Low-Energy, Low-Thrust Transfers to the Moon

Sánchez

McInnes

2014

Celest Mech Dyn Astr

In this paper, a method to capture near-Earth objects (NEOs) incorporating low-thrust propulsion into the invariant manifolds technique is investigated. Assuming that a tugboat-spacecraft is in a rendez-vous condition with the candidate asteroid, the aim is to take the joint spacecraft-asteroid system to a selected periodic orbit of the Sun–Earth restricted three-body system: the orbit can be either a libration point periodic orbit (LPO) or a distant prograde periodic orbit (DPO) around the Earth. In detail, low-thrust propulsion is used to bring the joint spacecraft-asteroid system from the initial condition to a point belonging to the stable manifold associated to the final periodic orbit: from here onward, thanks to the intrinsic dynamics of the physical model adopted, the flight is purely ballistic. Dedicated guided and capture sets are introduced to exploit the combined use of low-thrust propulsion with stable manifolds trajectories, aiming at defining feasible first guess solutions. Then, an optimal control problem is formulated to refine and improve them. This approach enables a new class of missions, whose solutions are not obtainable neither through the patched-conics method nor through the classic invariant manifolds technique

Section: Definition Of Special Dedicated Setsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combined low-thrust propulsion and invariant manifold trajectories to capture NEOs in the Sun–Earth circular restricted three-body problem

Sánchez

McInnes

2014

Celest Mech Dyn Astr

“…(The thrust tangential to the inertial velocity maximizes variation of the orbit's semi-major axis; in Ref. 16, a comparison between tangential thrust in either rotating or inertial frame shows negligible differences in the final optimal solution).…”

Section: Definition Of Attainable Setmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This paper elaborates on previous works by the same authors aimed at integrating together knowledge coming from dynamical system theory and optimal control problems for the design of efficient low-energy, low-thrust trajectories. [13][14][15][16][17][18]…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal Low-Thrust Invariant Manifold Trajectories via Attainable Sets

Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics

Topputo

Bernelli‐Zazzera

2011

Self Cite

A method to incorporate low-thrust propulsion into the invariant manifolds technique is presented in this paper. The low-thrust propulsion is introduced by means of special attainable sets that are used in conjunction with invariant manifolds to define a first-guess solution. This is later optimized in a more refined model where an optimal control formalism is used. Planar low-energy low-thrust transfers to the moon, as well as spatial low-thrust stable-manifold transfers to halo orbits in the Earth moon system, are presented. These solutions are not achievable via patched-conics methods or standard invariant manifolds techniques. The aim of the work is to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed method in delivering efficient solutions, which are compared with known examples

“…In detail, σ of the order of 10 −5 N/kg is chosen. With given σ, tangential control maximizes the variation of Jacobi energy, 45 which is the only property that has to be considered when designing trajectories in a three-body framework. Let R(α) and S(β) be two surfaces of section perpendicular to the (x, y)-plane and forming angles α and β with the x-axis, respectively.…”

Section: B Definition Of Dedicated Setsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low Energy, Low-Thrust Capture of Near Earth Objects in the Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon Restricted Three-Body Systems

AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference

Sánchez

McInnes

2014

Self Cite

In this paper a method to retrieve asteroids incorporating low-thrust propulsion into the invariant manifolds technique is investigated. Assuming that a tugboat-spacecraft is in a rendez-vous condition with the candidate Near Earth Object (NEO), the aim is to take the joint spacecraft-asteroid system to selected periodic orbits of the Earth-Moon restricted three-body system: the orbits can be either libration point periodic orbits (LPOs) or distant periodic orbits around the Moon, both prograde (DPOs) and retrograde (DROs). In detail, low-thrust propulsion is used to bring the joint spacecraft-asteroid system from the initial condition to a point belonging to the stable manifold associated to the final periodic orbit: from here onward, thanks to the intrinsic dynamics of the physical model adopted, the flight is purely ballistic. The idea is to couple together the Sun-Earth and the Earth-Moon models following the "patched restricted three-body problems approximation", therefore allowing the spacecraft-asteroid system to fly along the interplanetary manifold trajectories, explicitly exploiting the hyperbolic transit orbits flying by L1 and L2. Dedicated capture sets are introduced to exploit the combined use of low-thrust propulsion with stable manifolds trajectories, aiming at defining feasible first guess solutions. An optimal control problem is then formulated to refine them. This approach enables a new class of missions, whose solutions are not obtainable neither through the patched-conics method nor through the classic invariant manifolds technique.