Abstract
Orbits that are frozen in an averaged model, including the effect of a disturbing body laying on the equatorial plane of the primary body and the influence of the oblateness of the primary body, have been applied to probes orbiting the Moon. In this scenario, the main disturbing body is represented by the Earth, which is characterized by a certain obliquity with respect to the equatorial plane of the Moon. As a consequence of this, and of the perturbing effects that are not included in the averaged model, such solutions are not perfectly frozen. However, the orbit eccentricity, inclination, and argument of pericenter present limited variations and can be set to guarantee the fulfillment of requirements useful for lunar telecommunication missions and navigation services. Taking advantage of this, a practical case of a Moon-based mission was investigated to propose useful solutions for potential near-future applications.
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Acknowledgements
M. Cinelli was supported by the G4S_2.0 project, developed under the auspices of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) within the framework of the Bando Premiale CI-COT-2018-085, with the co-participation of the Italian Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) and the Politecnico di Torino (POLITO).
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The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article. The authors Emiliano Ortore, Alessandro A. Quarta, and Christian Circi are the Associate Editors of this journal.
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Marco Cinelli received his Ph.D. degree in 2017 from Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. He is a research fellow at the Istituto Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali (IAPS) of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in Rome. He is currently involved in the GALILEO for Science project (G4S) funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and aims to perform a set of measurements in the field of fundamental physics with the two Galileo satellites DORESA and MILENA. He is adjunct professor at the Universitas Mercatorum of Rome, Italy. E-mail: marco.cinelli@uniroma2.it
Emiliano Ortore graduated in aerospace engineering (M.S. degree) and in astronautical engineering and pursued his Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Since 2004, he has been working as a researcher at Sapienza University of Rome. Research fields: celestial mechanics; astrodynamics, including science orbits around planets, moons, and asteroids; orbits and satellite constellations for applications of remote sensing, telecommunication, and navigation. E-mail: emiliano.ortore@uniroma1.it
Giovanni Mengali received his Doctor of Engineer degree in aeronautical engineering in 1989 from the University of Pisa, Italy. Since 1990, he has been with the Department of Aerospace Engineering (now Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering) of the University of Pisa, first as a Ph.D. student, then as an assistant and an associate professor. Currently, he is professor of spaceflight mechanics. His main research areas include spacecraft mission analysis, trajectory optimization, solar sails, electric sails, and aircraft flight dynamics and control. E-mail: g.mengali@ing.unipi.it
Alessandro A. Quarta received his Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Pisa in 2005 and he is currently a professor of flight mechanics at the Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering of this university. His main research areas include spaceflight simulation, spacecraft mission analysis and design, low-thrust trajectory optimization, and solar sail and E-sail dynamics and control. E-mail: a.quarta@ing.unipi.it
Christian Circi is currently an associate professor in flight mechanics at the Department of Astronautical, Electrical, and Energy Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. He received his M.S. degree in aeronautical engineering and aerospace engineering, and his Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering at Sapienza University of Rome. He worked as a researcher at the Grupo de Mecanica of Vuelo-Madrid (GMV) and a research assistant at the Department of Aerospace Engineering. He is a lecturer in “Interplanetary Trajectories” and “Flight Mechanics of Launcher” in the master degree course of space and astronautical engineering at this university. His principal research fields are third-body and solar perturbations, interplanetary and lunar trajectories, solar sails, orbits for planetary observation, and the ascent trajectory of launcher. He is associate editor for Aerospace Science and Technology, International Journal of Aerospace Engineering, and Astrodynamics. E-mail: christian.circi@uniroma1.it
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Cinelli, M., Ortore, E., Mengali, G. et al. Lunar orbits for telecommunication and navigation services. Astrodyn 8, 209–220 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42064-023-0191-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42064-023-0191-3