A search for low Delta-V Earth-to-moon trajectories

Pernicka, Henry J.; Scarberry, D. P.; Marsh, S. M.; Sweetser, Theodore H.

doi:10.2514/6.1994-3772

Cited by 11 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Second, as observed, 7 the L 1 -E leg is a trajectory close to a 5:2 resonant orbit with the Moon. Resonances occur when the line of apsides is close to the Earth-Moon line (i.e., X-axis in the synodic frame) and produce an apocenter/pericenter raising; in other words, the spacecraft, when orbiting the Earth, is "pumped-up" by the gravitational attraction of the Moon.…”

Section: (16)supporting

confidence: 59%

“…This minimum was established by analyzing a variation of the Jacobi constant but, unfortunately, the corresponding minimum‐Δ v trajectory was not found. Pernicka, et al 7 were able to find a transfer trajectory close to this one. Their solution links a h E = 167 km Earth orbit with a h M = 100 km Moon orbit requiring Δ v = 3,824 m/sec and Δ t = 292 days, whereas the minimum theoretical cost for such a transfer is equal to Δ v th = 3,726 m/sec.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 59%

“…In previous work,7,10–13 trajectories defined in the R3BP were obtained by forward integration of perturbed initial conditions corresponding to Δ v values given at departure until the L 1 neighborhood was reached; but the point is that, as observed elsewhere,8 the problem so stated is very sensitive to small variations in the initial conditions.…”

Section: Design Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This helps to understand why previously cited works10–13 were able to find very low energy transfers just between high altitude Earth and Moon orbits. On the other hand, in order to link low altitude orbits1,7 additional midcourse maneuvers are required. The strategy on how to execute such maneuvers is given in the next section.…”

Section: Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Earth‐to‐Moon Low Energy Transfers Targeting L₁ Hyperbolic Transit Orbits

Topputo

Vasile

Bernelli‐Zazzera

2005

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the frame of the lunar exploration, numerous future space missions will require maximization of payload mass, and simultaneously achieving reasonable transfer times. To fulfill this request, low energy non-Keplerian orbits could be used to reach the Moon instead of high energetic transfers. The low energy solutions can be separated into two main categories depending on the nature of the trajectory approaching the Moon: low energy transit orbits that approach the Moon from the interior equilibrium point L(1) and weak stability boundary transfers that reach the Moon after passing through L(2). This paper proposes an alternative way to exploit the opportunities offered by L(1) transit orbits for the design of Earth-Moon transfers. First, in a neighborhood of the L(1) point, the three-body dynamics is linearized and written in normal form; then the entire family of nonlinear transit orbits is obtained by selecting the appropriate nontrivial amplitudes associated with the hyperbolic part. The L(1)-Earth arc is close to a 5:2 resonant orbit with the Moon, whose perturbations cause the apogee to rise. In a second step, two selected low altitude parking orbits around the Earth and the Moon are linked with the transit orbit by means of two three-body Lambert arcs, solutions of two two-point boundary value problems. The resulting Earth-to-Moon trajectories prove to be very efficient in the Moon captured arc and save approximately 100 m/sec in Deltav cost when compared to the Hohmann transfer. Furthermore, such solutions demonstrate that Moon capture could be obtained in the frame of the Earth-Moon R3BP neglecting the presence of the Sun.

show abstract

Section: (16)supporting

confidence: 59%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Section: Design Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Earth‐to‐Moon Low Energy Transfers Targeting L₁ Hyperbolic Transit Orbits

Topputo

Vasile

Bernelli‐Zazzera

2005

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…LELT solutions are also compared to a set of classical solutions (WSB: weak stability boundary, BP: bi-parabolic, HO: Hohmann, BE: bi-elliptic; 2 MIN: minimum theoretical 57 ) as well as to reference impulsive (Ref. 36,48,[52][53][54][55][56] and low-thrust (Ref. 14,15,30,[36][37][38][39][40] solutions.…”

Section: Low-energy Low-thrust Transfers To the Moonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal Low-Thrust Invariant Manifold Trajectories via Attainable Sets

Mingotti

Topputo

Bernelli‐Zazzera

2011

Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics

View full text Add to dashboard 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

show abstract