Autonomous Navigation of Three-Body Trajectory Based on Asymmetric Gravity Field

Abstract

In this paper，the autonomous orbital determination method with the background of communication relay net for the Moon is investigated. Two satellites，distributing on a lunar polar orbit and an Earth-Moon L2 Halo orbit，are proposed to cover the far side of the Moon and the lunar polar area. Based on the asymmetric three-body gravity field，the absolute orbital determination can be done by the sole satellite-satellite ranging. The autonomous orbital determination will contribute significantly to the autonomous management of deep space spacecraft. Numerical simulation indicates that the position error and velocity error can be reduced to the order of 100 m and 1cm/s respectively. This orbital determination method can be expanded to the autonomous navigation of multiple satellites movements around an irregular asteroid.

Keywords

satellite-to-satellite tracking / autonomous navigation / Earth–Moon system / communication relay / deep space exploration