Swing-by window expansion for WSB lunar gravity capture via low continuous thrust

Abstract

Weak stability boundary (WSB) lunar gravity-capture transfers can save much effort (dV) on arrival at the Moon but there is a very narrow window of only a few days in a month to achieve these transfers. This is because WSB transfers require a specific orientation of the orbit with regard to the Sun, the Earth and the Moon to efficiently use the chaotic dynamics of the multi-body problem. In this paper, we propose controlling the orbit through small continuous acceleration. The results show that the window of the WSB transfer can be expanded up to a full month.