TISSERAND-LEVERAGING TRANSFERS

摘要

Tisserand-leveraging transfers (TILTs) are introduced as a new method for computing low Av orbit transfers with the help of third-body perturbations. The TILTs can mitigate the costs and risk of planetary missions by reducing the orbit insertion maneuver requirements while maintaining short flight times. TILTs connect two flybys at the minor body with an impulsive maneuver at an apse. Using the circular, restricted, three-body problem, TILTs extend the concept of v-infinity leveraging beyond the patched-conics domain. In this paper a new method is presented to compute TILTs and to patch them together to design low-energy transfers. The presented solutions have transfer times similar to the high-energy solutions, yet the Av cost is significantly reduced (up to 60%), thus enabling new orbiter missions to planetary satellites. For this reason, TILTs are used in the reference endgame of ESA's new mission option to Ganymede, JUICE, which is also presented here. The "lunar resonances" of SMART1 are also explained in terms of low-thrust TILTs, suggesting future application of TILTs and low-thrust TILTs to design mission to the Moon and to other small body destinations. Finally, a new model called "conic-patched, multi-body model" is introduced to allow a fast and accurate integration of the multi-body dynamics, and has applications beyond TILTs.