"Design of transfers from Earth-Moon L 1/L2 libration point orbits to a" by Masaki Kakoi

Date of Award

Spring 2015

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Aeronautics and Astronautics

First Advisor

Kathleen C. Howell

Committee Member 1

James M. Longuski

Committee Member 2

M. Corless

Committee Member 3

Anil Bajaj

Abstract

Within the context of both manned and robotic spaceflight activities, orbits near the Earth-Moon L1 and L2 libration points could support lunar surface operations and serve as staging areas for future missions to near-Earth asteroids as well as Mars. In fact, an Earth-Moon L2 libration point orbit has been proposed as a potential hub for excursions to Mars as well as activities in support of planetary exploration. Yet, the dynamical environment within the Earth-Moon system is complex and, consequently, trajectory design in the vicinity of Earth-Moon L1 and L2 is nontrivial. Routine transfers between an Earth-Moon L1/L2 facility and Mars also requires design strategies to deliver trajectory arcs that are characterized by a coupling between different multi-body gravitational environments across two-, three- and four body systems. This investigation employs an approach to solve the general problem for transfers from the Earth-Moon libration point orbits to a destination object. Mars, Jupiter, and a near-Earth asteroid (2006RH120) are incorporated as sample destination objects, and general trajectory design procedures for multiple transfer scenarios including manifold and non-manifold options are developed by utilizing simplified models based on the knowledge of the circular restricted three-body problem. Then, the solutions are transitioned to higher-fidelity models; results for multiple departure/arrival scenarios are compared.

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