Systematic Design of Optimal Low-Thrust Transfers for the Three-Body Problem

Shankar Kulumani; Taeyoung Lee

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arXiv · 1510.02695

Systematic Design of Optimal Low-Thrust Transfers for the Three-Body Problem

Shankar Kulumani·Taeyoung Lee

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Abstract

A computational approach is developed for the design of continuous low thrust transfers in the planar circular restricted three-body problem. The transfer design method of invariant manifolds is extended with the addition of continuous low thrust propulsion. A reachable region is generated and it is used to determine transfer opportunities, analogous to the intersection of invariant manifolds. The reachable set is developed on a lower dimensional Poincare section and used to design transfer trajectories. This is solved numerically as a discrete optimal control problem using a variational integrator. This provides for a geometrically exact and numerically efficient method for the motion in the three-body problem. A numerical simulation is provided developing a transfer from a $L_1$ periodic orbit in the Earth-Moon system to a target orbit about the Moon.

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Shankar Kulumani, Taeyoung Lee. 2015-10-09. Systematic Design of Optimal Low-Thrust Transfers for the Three-Body Problem. https://arxiv.org/abs/1510.02695

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