Solar Sail resonant periodic orbits in the augmented Earth-Moon Quasi-Bicircular Problem

Paper number

IAC-18,C1,2,3,x44194

Author

Mr. Marc Jorba-Cuscó, Spain, University of Barcelona

Coauthor

Dr. Ariadna Farres, United States, NASA Goddard/University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)

Coauthor

Prof. Angel Jorba, Spain, University of Barcelona

Year

2018

Abstract

Solar sailing is a novel way of propelling space probes.
It takes advantage of the acceleration
produced by photons impacting upon the body, the so-called
Solar Radiation Pressure (SRP).
Unlike traditional thrusters, the acceleration is
continuous and limited only by the durability of the sail.
Although the acceleration due to the sail is much smaller
than the one achieved by traditional propellers, this technology
can be used for the design of, otherwise inconceivable, missions.

We are interested in understanding the dynamics of a spacecraft
endowed with a solar sail in the Earth-Moon system. The most commonly
used model is a modified version of the Restricted Three
Body Problem (RTBP) that takes into account the effect of the SRP.

Let us stress that, any model to study such a problem
needs to take into account the positions
of the Earth, Moon and Sun. The problem has an
unavoidable non-autonomous formulation. Considering also the gravitational
effect of the Sun do not increase the complexity of the model. Moreover,
there are several works in the literature reporting the role
that Sun's gravity plays in the Earth-Moon system.
The simplest model taking into account the gravitational effects
of these three bodies is the Bicircular Problem (BCP).

The BCP is, however, a non-coherent model and highly problematic
near the translunar point. For this reason we propose another basic
model: The Quasi-Bicircular Problem (QBCP), a
coherent version of the BCP.
To construct the QBCP we first compute a real three body problem
solution for the Earth, Moon and Sun that is planar and close to the
bicircular. Then, the equations for the test particle are written
considering this prescribed motion for the primaries. We note
that the vectorfield has no closed form.

We modify the QBCP to include the effect of SRP on the sail.
The resulting model depends on three parameters
describing the effectivity and the orientation of the sail. Moreover,
the system is a Hamiltonian periodic perturbation of the RTBP.
Our goal is to understand how the simplest invariant objects,
such as the periodic orbits with the same period as the Sun, change
with respect the sail parameters. This is interesting
because the dynamics of the model is organized from these
orbits. We focus on the periodic orbits that replace the
Lagrangian equilibrium points as well as the resonant orbits
that come from the Lyapunov and Halo families related to the
mentioned equilibria.

Abstract document

IAC-18,C1,2,3,x44194.brief.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-18,C1,2,3,x44194.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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