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Research Article | Open Access

Quasi-periodic orbits of small solar sails with time-varying attitude around Earth–Moon libration points

Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
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Abstract

This paper proposes new quasi-periodic orbits around Earth–Moon collinear libration points using solar sails. By including the time-varying sail orientation in the linearized equations of motion for the circular restricted three-body problem (CR3BP), four types of quasi-periodic orbits (two types around L1 and two types around L2) were formulated. Among them, one type of orbit around L2 realizes a considerably small geometry variation while ensuring visibility from the Earth if (and only if) the sail acceleration due to solar radiation pressure is approximately of a certain magnitude, which is much smaller than that assumed in several previous studies. This means that only small solar sails can remain in the vicinity of L2 for a long time without propellant consumption. The orbits designed in the linearized CR3BP can be translated into nonlinear CR3BP and high-fidelity ephemeris models without losing geometrical characteristics. In this study, new quasi-periodic orbits are formulated, and their characteristics are discussed. Furthermore, their extendibility to higher-fidelity dynamic models was verified using numerical examples.

Keywords

solar saillibration point orbitEarth–Moon systemcircular restricted three-body problem (CR3BP)

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Astrodynamics
Volume 8 Issue 1,
March 2024
Pages 161-174
DOI: 10.1007/s42064-023-0186-0
Cite this article:
Chujo T. Quasi-periodic orbits of small solar sails with time-varying attitude around Earth–Moon libration points. Astrodynamics, 2024, 8(1): 161-174. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42064-023-0186-0
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