Low-Thrust Many-Revolution Transfer between Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit and Low Lunar Orbit Using Hybrid Differential Dynamic Programming

Abstract: Low-thrust, many-revolution transfers between near-rectilinear halo orbits and low lunar orbits are challenging due to the many-revolutions and is further complicated by three-body perturbation. To address these challenges, we extend hybrid differential dynamic programming by enhancing with a continuation of dynamical system. The optimization begins with the Sundman-transformed two-body problem and gradually transitions to the Sundman-transformed circular restricted three-body problem expressed in the moon-centered inertial frame. Numerical examples demonstrate the robust convergence of our method, where optimal transfers from low lunar orbit to near-rectilinear halo orbit are obtained with a poor initial guess of low lunar orbit.