AAS 98-136

LOW ENERGY INTERPLANETARY TRANSFERS USING THE INVARIANT MANIFOLDS OF L1, L2, AND HALO ORBITS

M. W. Lo, S. D. Ross - Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Abstract

The invariant manifolds associated with the outer planets are extremely large objects in phase space. They are trajectories in the ecliptic which intersect one another. This enables a low energy single impulse transfer between the planets which requires several orbital periods. Since the periods of the outer planets are large, this time factor precludes its use in mission design. However, if we consider the Jovian satellites where the same dynamics occurs but with very short orbital periods, this approach may be used for tour design requiring minimal Delta-V. The existence of this transfer is an indication of the instability of the region of space between the satellites. It may explain some of the difficulties encountered in traditional satellite tour designs using conic approximations.

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