Numerical study of the three-dimensional transit orbits in the circular restricted three-body problem

Transit orbits are defined as the trajectories that can pass through the neck region of the zero velocity surface in the circular restricted three-body problem (CR3BP). The low-energy transfers in the CR3BP or between two CR3BPs are always through the instrumentality of the transit orbits. In this paper, the distribution of the transit orbits in the six-dimensional phase space is explored by using numerical methods. The necessary and sufficient condition of transition is introduced, which defines the distribution of the transit orbits by using the manifolds of the vertical and horizontal Lyapunov orbits and the transit cones. The relationship between the manifolds of the libration point orbits and the boundary of the transit orbits is discovered. By using this relationship, a fast algorithm for detecting the boundary of the transit orbits is developed. Moreover, this boundary is parametrized by using Fourier series, which makes easy to use the conclusions of this paper in future trajectory optimization and mission design. All the analyses in this paper are based on the Sun–Earth CR3BP, but the methods introduced here can be extended to any CR3BPs.

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