Maneuvering in near-Earth space with the use of the collinear libration points

Abstract

The use of the neighborhood of collinear libration point (L1 or L2) of the Sun-Earth system has long been of practical importance in connection with projects implemented by NASA and ESA. A celestial body motion is considered in a rotating frame within the Hill's problem of the circular restricted three-body problem. It is known that collinear libration points are unstable but its instability can be used as a positive factor for maneuvering a celestial body in the near-Earth space. For example, it may be used to solve the problem of comet and asteroid hazard to monitor space objects posing threat to the Earth. We offer a methodology for constructing control algorithms for the orbital motion of a celestial body. This methodology is based on the properties of a specially introduced phase variables function called hazard function. Numerical simulation results are given. © 2015 IEEE.