Transit and capture in the planar three-body problem leveraging low-thrust invariant manifolds

Abstract

Path planning in the circular restricted 3-body problem (CR3BP) is frequently guided by the forbidden regions and manifold arcs. However, when low thrust is employed to modify the spacecraft trajectory, these dynamical structures pulsate with the varying Hamiltonian value. In a combined CR3BP, low-thrust (CR3BP + LT) model, an additional low-thrust Hamiltonian is available that remains constant along low-thrust arcs given suitable assumptions. Accordingly, the analogous low-thrust forbidden regions and manifolds remain static and are useful guides for low-thrust trajectory design. Strategies leveraging these structures and other insights from the CR3BP + LT are explored to construct transit and capture itineraries.