The low-energy lunar landing trajectory design using the invariant manifolds of restricted three-body problem is studied. Considering angle between the ecliptic plane and lunar orbit plane, the four-body problem of sun-earth-moon-spacecraft is divided into two three-body problems, the sun-earth-spacecraft in the ecliptic plane and the earth-moon-spacecraft in the lunar orbit plane. Using the orbit maneuver at the place where the two planes and the invariant manifolds intersect, a general method to design low energy lunar landing trajectory is given. It is found that this method can save the energy about 20% compared to the traditional Hohmann transfer trajectory. The mechanism that the method can save energy is investigated in the point of view of energy and the expression of the amount of energy saved is given. In addition, some rules of selecting parameters with respect to orbit design are provided. The method of energy analysis in the paper can be extended to energy analysis in deep space orbit design.
The paper investigates the relative motion around the planetary displaced orbit. Several kinds of displaced orbits for geocentric and martian cases were discussed. First, the relative motion was linearized around the displaced orbits. Then, two seminatural control laws were investigated for each kind of orbit and the stable regions were obtained for each case. One of the two control laws is the passive control law that is very attractive for engineering practice. However, the two control laws are not very suitable for the Martian mission. Another special semi-natural control law is designed based on the requirement of the Martian mission. The results show that large stable regions exist for the control law.
