Publisher:Pasadena, CA : Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2011.
Citation:AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, Girdwood, Alaska, July 31 ‐ August 4, 2011
Abstract:
In this study, transfer trajectories from the Earth to the Moon that encounter the Moon at various flight path angles are examined, and lunar approach trajectories are compared to the invariant manifolds of selected unstable orbits in the circular restricted three-body problem. Previous work focused on lunar impact and landing trajectories encountering the Moon normal to the surface, and this research extends the problem with different flight path angles in three dimensions. The lunar landing geometry for a range of Jacobi constants are computed, and approaches to the Moon via invariant manifolds from unstable orbits are analyzed for different energy levels.