Two-maneuver indirect contingency return from a low lunar orbit
Yunfei LI, Xiaosheng Xin, Xiyun Hou
Abstract
The problem of contingency return from the low lunar orbit is studied. A novel two-maneuver indirect return strategy is proposed. By effectively using the Earth’s gravity to change the orbital plane of the transfer orbit, the second maneuver in the well-known three-maneuver return strategy can be removed, so the total Δv is reduced. Compared with the single-maneuver direct return, our strategy has the advantage in that the re-entry epoch for the minimum Δv cost can be advanced in time, with a minimum Δv value similar to that of the direct return. The most obvious difference between our strategy and the traditional single- or multiple- maneuver strategies is that the complete transfer orbit is a patch between a two-body conic orbit and a three-body orbit instead of two conic orbits. Our strategy can serve as a useful option for contingency return from a low lunar orbit, especially when the Δv constraint is stringent for a direct return and the contingency epoch is far away from the return window.