Single-Launch Deployment of Lunar Constellations from a Sun-Assisted Lunar Transfer Trajectory
- Paper number
IAC-23,C1,LBA,5,x80616
- Author
Dr. Sergey Trofimov, Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, RAS, Russian Federation
- Coauthor
Ms. Irina Glazunova, Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, RAS, Russian Federation
- Coauthor
Ms. Anastasia Tselousova, Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, RAS, Russian Federation
- Year
2023
- Abstract
Projects of building the lunar infrastructure are being actively developed now. Further exploration of the Moon and circumlunar space requires the establishment of a satellite communication and navigation system based on the distributed group of spacecraft. It raises a need for designing the most economical way to deploy the lunar constellation in several orbital planes. Recently, Stefano Carletta proposed a strategy for single-launch lunar constellation deployment from a low-energy trajectory passing close to the Earth-Moon $L_1$ point. In our work, another low-energy deployment approach is suggested based on the ballistic (Sun-assisted) lunar transfer. It is proposed to launch a single platform carrying all the spacecraft in a BLT trajectory and then deploy them into different orbital planes by applying small impulses in a distant part of trajectory. Due to the high sensitivity of BLT trajectories, the deployment cost appears to be several times lower comparing to Carletta’s single-launch scheme.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-23,C1,LBA,5,x80616.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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