Orbital Dynamics of an Oscillating Sail in the Earth-Moon System

Heiligers, J. and Ceriotti, M. (2017) Orbital Dynamics of an Oscillating Sail in the Earth-Moon System. In: Fourth International Symposium on Solar Sailing (ISSS 2017), Kyoto, Japan, 17-20 Jan 2017,

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Abstract

The oscillating sail is a novel solar sail configuration where a triangular sail is released at a deflected angle with respect to the Sun-direction. As a result, the sail will conduct an undamped oscillating motion around the Sun-line due to the offset between the centre-of-pressure and centre-of-mass. In this paper, the resulting oscillatory motion of the acceleration vector is exploited to design new families of periodic orbits in the Earth-Moon circular restricted three-body system. In particular, the effect of adding an oscillating sail to the family of Lyapunov orbits at the L1- and L2-points as well as the family of distant retrograde orbits (DROs) is investigated. Because the solar sail Earth-Moon system is non-autonomous (due to the apparent orbital motion of the Sun), the sail’s oscillating period, the orbital period and the period of the Sun around the Earth-Moon system all need to be commensurable in order for the orbits to be repeatable over time. Using a differential correction technique, orbits that satisfy these constraints can be obtained and the results comprise new families of periodic orbits that are parameterised by the required sail performance. In addition to exploiting the oscillating sail for generating new orbit families, this paper also investigates its potential for orbital transfers. By combining a systematic search method with a local optimiser, oscillating sail parameters and orbital parameters can be obtained that enable transfers between classical Lyapunov orbits at the L1-point, connections between classical Lyapunov orbits at different Lagrange points as well as transfers between orbits within the family of classical DROs.

Item Type:Conference Proceedings
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Ceriotti, Dr Matteo
Authors: Heiligers, J., and Ceriotti, M.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2017 The Authors
Publisher Policy:Reproduced with the permission of the authors
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