Aerogravity-assist capture into the three-body system: A preliminary design. (September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Han, Hongwei; Li, Xiangyu; Qiao, Dong
• Is Part Of: Acta astronautica. Volume 198(2022)
• Page Start: 26
• Page End: 35
• Publication Date: 2022-09
• Subjects: aero-Gravity assist -- Three-body system -- Successive approximation -- Halo orbit -- Backward stable orbit; Astronautics -- Periodicals; Outer space -- Exploration -- Periodicals; Astronautics; Periodicals; 629.405
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2022.05.042
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0094-5765

Abstract

Abstract: Aero-gravity assist (AGA) is a low-cost maneuver for an interplanetary vehicle since it can potentially replace thrust with aerodynamic force to save fuel consumption. In this study, an AGA-maneuver capture scheme to deliver a vehicle into a three-body system is presented, and a successive approximation-based method is proposed to optimize atmospheric trajectories. Based on the analysis of the aerodynamic deceleration process, the AGA capture maneuver is first formulated as a coplanar atmospheric flight process with fixed time and strict endpoint-state constraints. Then, the lossless convexification and successive approximation techniques are applied to construct the solving process of iteratively optimizing the AGA trajectories. Finally, the relaxation strategy to the strict terminal state constraints and the heavily penalized-function method are developed to avoid the artificial infeasibility of the problem and improve the convergence. Numerical simulations, demonstrated by the AGA-capture into Sun-Mars L2 Halo orbits and Sun-Mars backward stable orbits, show the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed method. It is the first time that the AGA-maneuver is combined with the dynamic property of the three-body system, and the proposed method can potentially enrich the possibility of the low-energy interplanetary transfer. Highlights: AGA-capture into the three-body system is first proposed. AGA trajectories are optimized by the successive convex programming. Heavily penalized-function method is developed to avoid artificial infeasibility. The method enriches the possibility of the low-energy interplanetary transfer.