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19h ago

Study Finds New Moon Transfer Cuts Fuel Needs by 58.8 m/s

The method uses large simulation sweeps to find an L1 stopover that keeps line-of-sight with Earth.

Credit: Karen Nyberg/JSC-NASA
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For decades trajectory designers assumed spacecraft should approach the Earth-moon L1 point from the Earth side — a new calculation just flipped that, and the fuel savings are bigger than they look
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Overview

  • Researchers report in Astrodynamics that a two-part route going Earth to L1 to lunar orbit trims required delta-v by 58.80 m/s compared with prior best solutions.
  • The team used the theory of functional connections to slash computing costs and ran about 30 million trajectory tests, far more than the roughly 280,000 in earlier studies.
  • The most efficient path enters the natural approach curve, called a variate, from the Moon side rather than the Earth side, overturning a common planning assumption.
  • The proposed L1 staging orbit can hold a spacecraft with station-keeping and maintain continuous communications because it avoids passing behind the Moon.
  • The current result models only Earth and Moon gravity, and the authors say adding the Sun could yield greater savings but would lock launches to specific dates.