The Open Aerospace Engineering Journal

2010, 3 : 65-75
Published online 2010 October 29. DOI: 10.2174/1874146001003010065
Publisher ID: TOAEJ-3-65

A Collocation Approach for Computing Solar Sail Lunar Pole-Sitter Orbits

Martin T. Ozimek , Daniel J. Grebow and Kathleen C. Howell
School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University, Armstrong Hall of Engineering, 701 W. Stadium Ave, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2045, USA.

ABSTRACT

Implementation of a 12th-order Gauss-Lobatto collocation scheme is detailed, including mesh refinement iterations to meet a user-specified error tolerance. The algorithm is robust and efficient, locating path constrained orbits when little information is available regarding the behavior of the solutions. Using a Fourier series control law, the method is applied to the computation of highly unstable, pole-sitter orbits in the Earth-moon restricted three-body problem. The results are comparable to those obtained with standard explicit propagators.

Keywords:

Solar sails, numerical methods, lunar pole-sitter, restricted three-body problem.