Lunar Trajectories

Earth & Moon Common center of mass

Earth-Moon Orbit
 Variation of Earth-Moon System
Solar perturbations change the rotation period by as much as 7
hours.

As the moons orbit around the Earth is elliptical, the Earth-moon

distance changes slightly with true anomaly.

The semi-major axis changes with time as the tides about Earth
take energy from the moon orbit and slow its orbital velocity.

Small changes in eccentricity occur with a period of 31.8 days (the

effect called evection).

The average orbit inclination with respect to the ecliptic is 5.145

0.15 deg varying with a period of 173 days.
 Lunar time of flight and Injection Velocity
The lunar orbit has a circular radius of 384,400
km.

The transfer ellipse is in the lunar orbit plane.

The gravitational effect of the moon is negligible.

The injection point is at the perigee of the

transfer ellipse.
 Lunar time of flight and Injection Velocity
Unlike planetary launches, a lunar departure orbit is elliptical
rather than hyperbolic.
In below diagram, orbit 1 is a minimum energy trajectory (an
ellipse) Longest possible time of flight and lowest injection velocity.
 Lunar time of flight and Injection Velocity
Assuming a transfer ellipse with perigee altitude of 275
km, the nominal shuttle orbit, produces a minimum energy
transfer ellipse with a time of flight of 119.5 hrs and an
injection speed of 10.853 km/s.
 Sphere of Influence (SOI)
Sphere of Influence a major consideration for a
lunar trajectory and have to make a trajectory
patch at its boundary. (Discussed Earlier)
 Lunar Patched Conic Method

0 phase angle at departure

Figure 1: Geometry of geocentric departure orbit

 Designing a lunar mission
(1) Set initial conditions To define the transfer
ellipse, it is necessary to pick injection altitude (or
radius), velocity and flight path angle ( r0 , V0 , 0 ). (If
injection is made at perigee, the flight path angle
is zero)

In addition, it is necessary to define the location

of the arrival point at the sphere of influence the
most convenient method is to set the angle l1, as
shown in previous figure (Fig.1).
 Designing a lunar mission
(2) Define the transfer ellipse given r, V and at the
point of injection using the energy/momentum
technique.
If the initial velocity is not high enough, the
departure ellipse will not intersect the moon sphere
of influence and a second set of initial conditions
must be chosen.
(3) Find the radius to the sphere of influence, r1 in
Fig.1, from trigonometry.
r1 D R 2 D RS cos l1
2 2
S
 Designing a lunar mission
The energy and angular momentum of the
departure orbit can be determined from
V
2
0
; h r0 V0 cos 0
2 r0

(4) The speed and flight path angle at arrival on the

sphere on influence can be determined from
h
V1 2 r1 ; cos 1
r1 V1
 Designing a lunar mission
Finally, the phase angle at arrival can be
determined from the geometry:
RS
sin 1 sin l1
r1
The time of flight t1 t0, from injection to arrival
at the lunar sphere of influence can be computed
once q0 and q1 are determined. Before the true
anomalies can be found we must determine a and
e of the geocentric trajectory from
h2
p ; a ; e 1 p a
2
 Designing a lunar mission
Then q0 and q1 follow from the polar equation of
a conic:
p 1 p 1
cos q 0 ; cos q1
r0 e e r1 e e
After determining the eccentric anomalies, the
time of flight can be obtained from
a3
t1 t0 E1 e sin E1 E0 e sin E0

(5) Then define V2 , 2 inside the sphere of influence

at the arrival point. The radius (r2) is the radius of
the sphere of influence, ie. 66,183 km.
 Designing a lunar mission
(6) Given r2, V2 , 2 inside the sphere of influence,
define the arrival orbit.

(7) If the arrival orbit is satisfactory, find the launch

day using the time of flight calculated earlier and
average orbital velocity.

(8) If the arrival orbit is not satisfactory, either the

injection conditions ( r0 ,V0 , 0 ) or the arrival angle l1
should be adjusted and start over at beginning (trial
and error) until the trajectory is acceptable.
 Lunar patched conic Example
Assume the lunar orbit is circular with radius
384,400 km and is coplanar with the transfer
ellipse. Define a lunar trajectory with the following
initial conditions:
Injection at perigee 0 = 0
Injection radius r0 = 6700 km
Injection velocity V0 = 10.88 km/s
Arrival angle l1 = 60 deg
 Departure trajectory (transfer ellipse)
The specific energy and the specific momentum
on the transfer ellipse are
V02
h r0 V0 cos 0
2 r0

10.88
2
398600.4418
6700 10.88 cos 0
2 6700

0.3054 km 2 s 2 72896 km 2 s
and
398600.4418
a 652587.5 km
2 2 0.3054

72896
2 2
h
e 1 1 0.98973
a 398600.4418 652587.5
 Arrival at Moons Sphere of Influence
Defining arrival conditions (intersection with SOI)
Using trigonometry cosine law, r1 355953.374 km
and phase angle at arrival can be found as,
1 9.2662 deg.
With these values, the following parameters can be
calculated:
V1 1.27625 km / s
1 80.766 deg
q1 166.54 deg
Time of flight, t1 t0 49.6 hours (from point of injection to
arrival at the boundary of moons sphere of influence (patch point))
 Defining the lunar orbit (inside the SOI)
Conditions at the patch point (defining the lunar
orbit)
Now we need to determine the trajectory inside the
Moon's sphere of influence where only lunar gravity
is assumed to act on the spacecraft. Since we must
now consider the Moon as the central body, it is
necessary to find the speed and direction of the
spacecraft relative to the center of the Moon.

In Figure 2, the geometry of the situation at arrival

is shown in detail.
 Defining the lunar orbit

Figure 2: Lunar arrival Geometry (NOT TO SCALE)

 Defining the lunar orbit
If we let the subscript 2 indicate the initial
conditions relative to the Moon's center, then the
selenocentric radius, r2 , is r2 Rs = 66,183 km.

Here, V2 = velocity of the spacecraft relative to

the center of the Moon,

and Vm = velocity of the Moon relative to the

center of the Earth (1.023 km/s).
 Defining the lunar orbit
The selenocentric arrival speed, V2 may be obtained by
applying the law of cosines to the vector triangle in Figure 2
(yellow coloured region):

V2 V12 Vm2 2V1 Vm cos 1 1

1.27625 1.023 2 1.276251.023 cos 80.766 9.2662

2 2

1.359 km s
From the arrival geometry (Figure 2), the flight path angle,
2 180 (l1 b )
The angle b can be obtained by applying a vector triangle
formula (shown in next slide) to the vector triangle shown in
Figure 2 (yellow coloured region).
 Arrival vector diagram
The vector triangle from Figure 2 and its corresponding
values are shown below:
To find a from
vector triangle
formula:
V12 V22 Vm2
cos a
2V1 V2
a = 45.55 deg
Therefore,
b = 180(45.55+71.5)
= 62.95 deg

Therefore, 2 180 (l1 b ) = 180 (60 + 62.95) = 57.05 deg

 Arrival trajectory (hyperbola)
From r2 ,V2 , 2 , the orbital elements of the arrival
hyperbolic trajectory can be obtained as follows:
V22 moon
h r2 V2 cos 2
2 r2

1.359 4902.87
2

661831.359 cos 57.05

2 66183

0.84936 km 2 s 2 48920.4625 km 2 s
and
moon 4902.87
a 2886.2143 km
2 2 0.84936

48920.4625
2 2
h
e 1 1 13.0431
moon a 4902.87 2886.2143
 Arrival trajectory (hyperbola)
From the obtained values it is clear that the arrival
trajectory (lunar orbit) is a hyperbola. The resulting lunar
orbit is the relatively flat hyperbola as shown below (not to
scale).
 Arrival trajectory (hyperbola)
The periapsis (periselenium) radius can be obtained as:
rp a(1 e) 34758.967 km
and the periapsis speed can be obtained from

moon
Vp 2
rp

Recall the initial assumption that the trajectory was in
the lunar plane. If a non-coplanar trajectory is desired, the
inclination of the transfer plane can be incorporated into
the calculations using the methods which was already
discussed in realistic Venus mission.
 Evaluation of the lunar trajectory
Once the lunar trajectory (transfer ellipse and arrival hyperbola)
has been defined, it is essential to verify whether the obtained
trajectory (orbit) is suitable or not for the required mission.
There are a number of terminal conditions of interest to
evaluate the lunar orbit depending on the nature of the mission as
follows:
(1) For landing or impact at moons surface, the periselenium
radius should be less than the radius of the moon (1738 km).
(2) For reaching lunar orbit (orbit around the moon), we have to
compute the delta-v required to produce a lunar satellite at
the periselenium altitude.
(3) For circumlunar flight, we have to compute both the
periselenium conditions and the conditions upon exit from the
lunar sphere of influence.
Phasing of the lunar position at injection
 Reference(s)
Roger R. Bate, Donald D. Mueller, Jerry E. White,
Fundamentals of Astrodynamics, Dover Publications, 1971.

Charles D. Brown, Elements of Spacecraft Design, AIAA

Publications, 2002.

Second Year Higher Secondary Text Book of Mathematics,

Vol 1.