Incorporating the evolution of multi-body orbits into the trajectory trade space and design process

Abstract

Libration point orbits have been incorporated in many missions, with the capability of orbiting near L1 and L2 in the Earth–Moon system recently demonstrated during the ARTEMIS mission. While the orbits in the vicinity of the collinear libration points have been well studied, knowledge about the availability and evolution of these orbits is not generally exploited during the mission design process. In this investigation, strategies to display information about the global solution space in the vicinity of the libration points are explored, facilitating a rapid assessment of the available solutions for a range of energy levels. A design process is presented that exploits information about the available orbit structures, and is demonstrated for several sample design scenarios, including transfers to and between libration point orbits.