Small-Amplitude Quasi-Periodic Orbit around Sun-Earth Libration Points Controlled by Solar Radiation Pressure

Abstract

For making better use of the Sun-Earth libration points, small-amplitude periodic orbits controlled by Solar Radiation Pressure (SRP) were previously proposed, whose amplitude is much smaller than the classical halo orbits, and the geometry with respect to the Earth is nearly fixed. However, the mechanics were investigated only in the Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem (CR3BP), and only typical computation examples were shown. To further improve the study, we extend the study in two aspects in this paper. First, we establish an orbit design scheme for arbitrary-amplitude periodic orbits in the nonlinear CR3BP using an optimization problem and find a family of small-amplitude periodic orbits controlled by SRP. Second, we establish an orbit design method in the high-fidelity ephemeris model, where the influence of the lunar gravity is significant. A reference periodic orbit designed in the CR3BP is translated into a quasi-periodic orbit. We also propose a strategy to avoid eclipse in the design of quasi-periodic orbits in the ephemeris model.