Stationkeeping of libration point orbits, executive summary

Stationkeeping for near halo orbits in the Earth-Moon-Sun system is studied. The full solar system is considered as a perturbation of the restricted three body problem. The families of halo orbits and the motion near them is studied. The general equations of motion are integrated to get the final nominal quasi-periodic orbit. The on/off stationkeeping is based on geometrical considerations using a dynamical systems approach. Software to perform analytical and numerical computations and to do simulations of the real behavior was produced. It is proved that the proposed method is very cheap in terms of fuel and it requires no computing time when the nominal orbit and projection factors are available. The feasibility of radiation pressure and low thrust stationkeeping is shown.