Dynamical Flow Characteristics in Response to a Maneuver in the L1 or L2 Earth-Moon Region
Abstract
National security concerns regarding cislunar space have become more prominent due to the anticipated increase in cislunar activity. Predictability is one of these concerns. Cislunar motion is difficult to predict because it is chaotic. The chaotic nature of cislunar motion is pronounced near the L1 and L2 Lagrange points. For this reason, among others, it is likely that a red actor (an antagonist) would have its cislunar spacecraft perform a maneuver in one of the aforementioned vicinities to reach some cislunar point of interest. This realization unveils the need to ascertain some degree of predictability in the motion resulting from a maneuver performed in the L1 or L2 region. To investigate said motion, impulsive maneuvers are employed on the L1 and L2 Lagrange points and on L1 and L2 Lyapunov orbits in the model that is the circular restricted three-body problem. The behavior of the resultant trajectories is analyzed to understand how the magnitude and direction of a maneuver in said regions affect the behavior of the resultant trajectory. It is found that the direction of such maneuvers is particularly influential with respect to said behavior. Regarding both the L1 and L2 regions, certain maneuver directions yield certain behaviors in the resultant trajectory over a wide range of maneuver magnitudes. This understanding is informative to cislunar mission design.
Degree
M.Sc.
Advisors
Howell, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Astronomy|Foreign language education|Language|Planetology|Political science
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