Travis Yeager, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Kerianne Pruett, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Michael Schneider, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Keywords: cislunar, n-body, dynamics, orbit, stability
Abstract:
For orbits between the Earth and Moon, elements of n-body dynamics arise, creating chaotic behavior over various timescales. Because of this chaos, TLEs and the restricted three body problem fail to predict the long-term behavior of cislunar orbits. Solving cislunar orbits over long timescales requires accurate gravity and radiation pressure models which are computationally expensive. However, not all cislunar orbits are equally chaotic, so low-cost computational modeling may suffice depending on the orbit and timescales involved. Leveraging Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) high-performance computing resources and LLNL-developed space situational awareness python packages, we create a library of high-fidelity cislunar orbits, integrated out to twenty-year timescales. Using this library, we can then recompute select cislunar orbits with varying force models and integrators to quantify the accuracy tradeoffs for various models. We present the results of our cislunar orbit simulations and analysis on the divergence of lower fidelity models from a high fidelity model at different regions of orbit initialization phase-space. Simulated orbits include Earth-centered and moon-centered orbits, all of which are initialized via Keplerian orbital elements spanning the full 6d parameter space.
Date of Conference: September 19-22, 2023
Track: Cislunar SDA