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Solar Sail Transfers and Trajectory Design to Sun-Earth L4, L5: Solar Observations and Potential Earth Trojan Exploration

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Abstract

The Sun-Earth triangular Lagrange point, L5, offers an ideal location to monitor the space weather. Furthermore, L4, L5 may harbor Earth ‘Trojan’ asteroids and space dust that are of significant interest to the scientific community. No spacecraft has, thus far, entered an orbit in the vicinity of Sun-Earth triangular points in part because of high propellant costs. By incorporating solar sail dynamics in the model representing CR3BP, the concept of a mission to L4, L5 can be re-evaluated and the total ΔV can be reconsidered. A solar sail is employed to increase the energy of the spacecraft and deliver the spacecraft to an orbit about an artificial Lagrange point by leveraging solar radiation pressure and, potentially, without any insertion ΔV.

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  1. Rohan Sood

    Present address: Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics, The University of Alabama, 401 7th Avenue, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA

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  1. School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University, 701 West Stadium Avenue, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Rohan Sood & Kathleen Howell

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An earlier version was presented as a conference paper AAS 16-467 at the 26th AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting, Napa, CA, February 14-18, 2016

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Sood, R., Howell, K. Solar Sail Transfers and Trajectory Design to Sun-Earth L4, L5: Solar Observations and Potential Earth Trojan Exploration. J of Astronaut Sci 66, 247–281 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40295-018-00141-4

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