# Systematic Design of Optimal Low Thrust Transfers in the Three-Body Problem

Presented at the AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, Vail, Colorado August 10-13 2015

## Abstract

A computational approach is developed for the design of continuous low thrust transfers in the planar circular restricted three-body problem. The transfer design method of invariant manifolds is extended with the addition of continuous low thrust propulsion. A reachable region is generated and it is used to determine transfer opportunities, analogous to the intersection of invariant manifolds. The reachable set is developed on a lower dimensional Poincaré section and used to design transfer trajectories. This is solved numerically as a discrete optimal control problem using a variational integrator. This provides for a geometrically exact and numerically efficient method for the motion in the three-body problem. A numerical simulation is provided developing a transfer from a $$L_1$$ periodic orbit in the Earth-Moon system to a target orbit about the Moon.

@inproceedings{kulumani2015,