Novel strategies for fast and low-cost Earth-Moon transfer design - Prof. Maisa de O. Terra and Dr Priscilla A. de Sousa-Silva

Published: 21 September 2015

Date & Time: Monday, Friday, 1st July 2016, 1:00-2:00pm Venue: Room 526, James Watt South Building

We are going to have a seminar on 'Novel strategies for fast and low-cost Earth-Moon Transfer Design' on Friday, 1st July 2016, 1:00-2:00pm, given by Prof. Maisa de O. Terra and Dr Priscilla A. de Sousa-Silva, Associate Professor of the Mathematics Department and post-doctoral fellow in the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), São José dos Campos, Brazil.

Abstract and biography are given below.

Date & Time:  Friday, 1st July 2016, 1:00-2:00pm
Venue:           Room 526, James Watt South Building

Tea/coffee/biscuits before the start.

 

 


Abstract

In this talk, after a very brief introduction on the research topics on Astrodynamics and Applied Mathematics we conduct in the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), São José dos Campos, Brazil, we will present our investigation on new strategies on the design of fast and low-cost Earth-Moon trajectories, conducted at UofG in in collaboration with Dr. Matteo Ceriotti, supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

The modern trend of reducing the cost of space missions influences every aspect of their design, starting from the selection of suitable spacecraft transfer trajectories and orbits. For example, direct transfers to the Moon and other planets are nowadays rarely an option, due to their very high requirements in terms of total acceleration, or Δv, which translates directly into high propellant mass fraction. In order to obtain low-cost solutions, the models employed in mission analysis have become more realistic, considering multi-body gravitational dynamics, enabling orbits that do not exist in two-body dynamics. We will present results related to the introduction of a new model which adds more realistic features than previous models used in the classical approach known as Patched Three-Body, but still allows to build upon previous results which take advantage on the fundamental invariant structures of the Planar Restricted Three-Body Problem. In particular, we will discuss a heuristic strategy to obtain ensembles of ballistic capture orbits around the Moon that combined with a genetic algorithm to survey quasi-periodic solutions of the Sun-Earth system produces good initial guesses for the departing stage aiming optimized solutions, with low, high, and hybrid thrust. The resulting Earth-Moon transfers are short time solutions with ballistic capture at Moon arrival.

Biographies

Prof. Maisa de Oliveira Terra is a RAEng Newton Grant visiting researcher of the Space Engineering group in collaboration with Dr. Matteo Ceriotti and is Associate Professor of the Mathematics Department at the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), São José dos Campos, Brazil. Maisa received her Ph.D. degree in Physics from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, in 1996, and her B.S. in Physics in 1991 also from the University of São Paulo. She has experience in Space Engineering and Applied Mathematics with emphasis on modern spacial mission design based on high-dimensional dynamical systems, astrodynamics, hamiltonian systems and celestial mechanics. Since 2002, she belongs to the permanent faculty board of the Postgraduate Course in Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering and of the Postgraduate Course in Physics of ITA. Recently, she conducted post-doctoral research in the Applied Dynamical System Group of the University of Barcelona, Barcelona, in 2011, working on identification and characterization of relevant hyperbolic structures in diffusion and practical stability processes in many-body systems in the Solar System.

Dr Priscilla A. de Sousa Silva is a RAEng Newton Grant visiting researcher of the Space Engineering group in collaboration with Dr. Matteo Ceriotti and a post-doctoral fellow in the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), São José dos Campos, Brazil. Priscilla received a Bs in Physics from the Federal University of Pernambuco, PE/Brazil in 2006 and a PhD degree in Science from the Technological Institute of Aeronautics - Graduate Program in Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering, SP/Brazil. Her doctorate thesis, entitled The Algorithmic Weak Stability Boundary in Earth-to- Moon Mission Design: Dynamical Aspects and Applicability, deals with Earth-Moon low-energy missions that benefit from using the nonlinear characteristics of the Restricted Three-body Problem. From 2011 to 2013 she was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Barcelona - Department of Applied Mathematics and Analysis, Barcelona/Spain, working with effective stability regions in the Restricted Three-body Problem to identify the hyperbolic structures associated with the borders of these regions. Currently, she holds a postdoctoral fellowship at the Technological Institute of Aeronautics, SP/Brazil, working with Dynamical Systems tools to address stability issues in high-dimensional mathematical models with applications in celestial mechanics and orbital dynamics. She has been awarded with the following grants: CNPq Scientific Initiation (3005-2006), CAPES Institutional Doctorate Grant (2007-2010), CNPq PDE (2011-2013), FAPESP PD (2013-Current). In 2012 she received the Wagner Sessin Award in the category “Orbital Mechanics and Control”.

First published: 21 September 2015