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The transfers from lunar DROs to Earth orbits via optimization in the four body problem

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Abstract

The distant retrograde orbits (DROs) can serve as the parking orbits for a long-term cis-lunar space station. This paper gives a comprehensive study on the transfer problem from DROs to Earth orbits, including low Earth orbits (LEOs), medium Earth orbits (MEOs), and geosynchronous orbits (GSOs), in the bicircular restricted four-body problem (BR4BP) via optimizations within a large solution space. The planar transfer problem is firstly solved by grid search and optimization techniques, and two types of transfer orbits, direct ones and low-energy ones, are both constructed. Then, the nonplanar transfer problem to Earth orbits with inclinations between 0 and 90 degrees are solved via sequential optimizations based on the planar transfers. The transfer characteristics in the cases of different destination orbit inclinations are discussed for both the direct and the low-energy transfer orbits. The important role of the lunar gravity in the low-energy transfers is also discussed, which can overcome the increase of transfer cost caused by the high inclination of Earth orbits. The distinct features of different transfer scenarios, including multiple revolutions around the Earth and Moon, the exterior phase, and the lunar flyby, are discovered. The energy of transfer orbits is exploited to discuss the effects of close lunar flybys. The results will be helpful for the transfer design in future manned or unmanned return missions, and can also provide valuable information for selecting proper parking DROs for cis-lunar space stations.

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The data and material are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number 11872007), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant number ZDRW-KT-2019-1-0102).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Astronautics, Beihang University, Beijing, 102206, China

    Ruikang Zhang & Yue Wang

  2. Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100094, China

    Chen Zhang & Hao Zhang

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  1. Ruikang Zhang
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  2. Yue Wang
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  3. Chen Zhang
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  4. Hao Zhang
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Correspondence to Yue Wang.

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Zhang, R., Wang, Y., Zhang, C. et al. The transfers from lunar DROs to Earth orbits via optimization in the four body problem. Astrophys Space Sci 366, 49 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-021-03955-1

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