APPLICATION OF DYNAMICAL-SYSTEMS THEORY TO TRAJECTORY DESIGN FOR A LIBRATION POINT MISSION

Recently, there has been accelerated interest in missions utilizing tr ajectories near libration points. The trajectory design issues involve d in missions of such complexity go beyond the lack of preliminary bas eline trajectories (since conic analysis fails in this region of the s olution space). Successful and efficient design of mission options wil l require new persepectives; a more complete understanding of the solu tion space is imperative. In this investigation, dynamical systems the ory is applied to better understand the geometry of the phase space in the three-body problem via stable and unstable manifolds. Then, the m anifolds are used to generate various solution arcs and establish traj ectory options that are then utilized in preliminary design for the pr oposed Suess-Urey mission.