Application and analysis of an improved multiconic method in trajectory design of the lunar south pole return mission

Abstract

The multiconic method is a fast and accurate method for trajectory propagation, which fills the gap between the patched conic and numerical integration. However, this method has been rarely applied in the Moon–Earth trajectory design, and Lunar oblateness perturbation is a necessary term that cannot be ignored. In Lunar exploration, the south polar region of the Moon has been highlighted as an attractive destination by European Space Agency and Russia because of technical and scientific factors. First, according to the illumination and communication conditions, this paper presents analysis of the trajectory injection window. An improved multiconic method that combines the Lunar oblateness correction in the propagation of Moon–Earth trajectories is then proposed. In additional, the elliptical B-plane parameters are introduced to improve the rate of convergence during the correction of initial values. Compared with the traditional multiconic method, significantly, the proposed methods improve the accuracy of propagation of the Moon–Earth trajectory.

Keywords

Improved multiconic method Moon–Earth trajectory Lunar south pole exploration trajectory injection window elliptical B-plane

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bai Y-z. Research on trajectory design for manned lunar landing mission. National University of Defense Technology, October 2010.

Berry RL. Launch window and translunar, lunar orbit, and transearth trajectory planning and control for the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Mission. In: AIAA 8th aerospace sciences meeting, New York, USA, 19–21 January 1970, paper no. 70-24, pp.1–17.

Wilson SW. A pseudostate theory for the approximation of three-body trajectories. AIAA Paper 70-1061, 1970.

Byrnes DV and Hooper HL. Multiconic: A fast and accurate method of computing space flight trajectories. AIAA Paper 70-1062, 1970.

Meng

. Vinti multi-conic prediction method for the Earth-Moon transfer trajectories. Sci Technol Rev 2008; 26: 47–51.

Beksinski ED Jr. About trajectories for manned lunar mission. Dissertation, University of Maryland, USA, 2007.

Guibout

Scheeres

. Spacecraft formation dynamics and design. J Control Guid Dyn 2004; 29: 121–133.

Zhang

et al.

Design of moon return trajectory with direct atmospheric reentry. Spacecraft Eng 2010; 5: 50–55.

Carpenter

Fisackerly

De Rosa

et al.

Scientific preparations for lunar exploration with the European Lunar Lander. Planet Space Sci 2012; 74: 208–223.

10.

Russian Federal Space Agency. Russia space programs and exploration handbook. Report, Russian Federal Space Agency, Moscow, 2011, p. 59.

11.

Vanoutryve B, De Rosa D, Fisackerly R, et al. An analysis of illumination and communication conditions near lunar south pole based on Kaguya Data. In: IPPW 7, Barcelona, 15 June 2010.

12.

Pieters

Goswami

Clark

et al.

Character and spatial distribution of OH/H2O on the surface of the moon seen by M3 on Chandrayaan-1. Science 2009; 326: 568–572.

13.

Spudis P, Bussey D, Butler B, et al. The MiniSAR imaging radar on the Chandrayaan-1 mission to the moon. In: Lunar and planetary institute science conference, Texas, USA, 23–27 March 2009, paper no. 1153, pp.1098–1099.

14.

Roncoli RB. Lunar constants and models document. Report, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA, 2005.

15.

De Rosa

Bussey

Cahill

et al.

Characterisation of potential landing sites for the European Space Agency’s Lunar Lander project. Planet Space Sci 2012; 74: 224–246.

16.

Stanley D, Cook S, Connolly J, et al. NASA’s exploration systems architecture study. NASA Final Report, TM-2005-214062, 2005.

17.

Hong PE, Kent PD, Olson DW, et al. Interplanetary program to optimize simulated trajectories. Volume 2: Analytic manual, 1992.