Extensive Database of Spatial Ballistic Captures with Application to Lunar Trailblazer

TL;DR

This paper develops a comprehensive 3D database of spatial Ballistic Capture trajectories, enabling low-energy lunar missions by extending the Energy Transition Domain framework and applying it to the Lunar Trailblazer mission.

Contribution

It extends the Energy Transition Domain to three dimensions and demonstrates its application to real lunar mission planning with trajectory filtering and high-fidelity analysis.

Findings

Created an extensive spatial Ballistic Capture database.

Filtered trajectories for Lunar Trailblazer using a mission-specific metric.

Identified potential backup trajectories for lunar orbit insertion.

Abstract

For low-energy missions to the Moon and beyond, Ballistic Capture has proven to be a valuable technique for enabling orbital insertion while alleviating propulsion system requirements. This approach offers two key advantages. First, it extends the insertion window, allowing multiple maneuver opportunities to mitigate potential failures at the nominal insertion point. Second, it enables the required insertion maneuver to be distributed across multiple revolutions, reducing propulsion system constraints in terms of single-burn thrust. Prior research introduced the concept of Energy Transition Domain to support the creation of a comprehensive database of Ballistic Captures in the planar Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem. However, to apply these trajectories to a real mission scenario, a three-dimensional, spatial analysis and transition to an ephemeris model are necessary. This paper first extends the Energy Transition Domain framework to the spatial case, constructing an extensive database of spatial Ballistic Captures. Then, using Lunar Trailblazer as a case study, a subset of the trajectories is filtered using a mission-specific distance metric, and transitioned into an ephemeris model. Finally, interesting features of this subset are analyzed, and sample high-fidelity trajectories are selected as potential backup options for Lunar Trailblazer.