A study of low-energy transfer orbits to the Moon: towards an operational optimization technique

TL;DR

This paper investigates low-energy transfer orbits to the Moon using Monte Carlo simulations and multi-objective optimization to identify efficient, reliable lunar transfer trajectories with minimal propellant use.

Contribution

It introduces a statistical and operational framework for optimizing low-energy lunar transfer orbits based on extensive simulation data.

Findings

Identified a reliable method for finding optimal lunar transfer orbits.

Demonstrated the effectiveness of multi-objective optimization in mission planning.

Provided insights into the range of initial conditions leading to efficient transfers.

Abstract

In the Earth-Moon system, low-energy orbits are transfer trajectories from the earth to a circumlunar orbit that require less propellant consumption when compared to the traditional methods. In this work we use a Monte Carlo approach to study a great number of such transfer orbits over a wide range of initial conditions. We make statistical and operational considerations on the resulting data, leading to the description of a reliable way of finding "optimal" mission orbits with the tools of multi-objective optimization.