Earth-Moon transfer trajectory for the Lunisat microsat

In recent years, an increasingly number of entities, either Universities, space agencies, or private ventures have conceived, developed, and operated a microsatellite. This work presents the overall mission analysis for Lunisat, a next-generation microsatellite that is intended to transfer from Earth to the Moon. The Lunisat mission is assumed to be composed of two main phases: (a) transfer trajectory from a low Earth orbit (LEO) to a low Moon orbit (LMO), and (b) release of nanosatellites around the Moon. Lunisat mission includes the release of two or more nanosatellites, which will need to be deployed into a very low Moon orbit, and since Earth's satellite is affected by the masconian character of its gravitational field, the Earth-Moon transfer shall be precise enough to insert Lunisat into the required Low Moon Orbit. As a first step, the optimal two-impulse transfer is obtained, under some simplifying assumption. Then, the transfer trajectory is investigated using very accurate dynamical modeling, and an analysis on a continuous-thrust transfer, as well as a more general evaluation of finite transfers is addressed. The second phase of the Lunisat mission includes the release of two or more nanosatellites, and is affected by the masconian character of the Moon gravitational field. This work investigates the transfer evolution of the microsatellite, employing accurate simulation models that include the most relevant perturbing terms in the gravitational models and the third-body effects.