Translunar Halo Orbits in the Quasibicircular Problem

Abstract

The Quasibicircular Problem (QBCP) is a four body problem where three masses are revolving in a quasibicircular motion (that is, a coherent motion close to bicircular), the fourth mass being small and not influencing the motion of the three primaries. The Earth-Moon-Sun-Spacecraft case is considered and the Hamiltonian which governs the motion of the fourth mass is derived. That is a Hamiltonian with three degrees of freedom depending periodically on time. One application of this model has been the computation of quasiperiodic translunar Halo orbits. These orbits have been obtained using a continuation method starting at the Halo orbits of the RTBP. The Halo orbits of the QBCP are refined to Halo orbits of the Solar System using a Parallel Shooting method and JPL ephemeris.