RENDEZVOUS MISSIONS: FROM ISS TO LUNAR SPACE STATION

摘要

There is a lot of experience gained in rendezvous of different vehicles in LEO during the years of human space exploration. In the framework of Apollo program when the astronauts landed on the surface of the Moon the docking of the Lunar Module' launched from the Moon surface to the Apollo Command Module was successfully implemented in the near-Moon orbit. Presently many space agencies consider return to the Moon. It is necessary to solve the new task of docking the vehicle launched from the Earth to the long-term near-Moon orbital station taking into account specific constraints. Based on the ISS experience the author proposes a number of ballistic rendezvous strategies that provide for the docking to the near-Moon orbital station with minimum propellant consumption. The trade-off analysis of the given rendezvous strategies is presented.