Optimization, guidance, and control of low-thrust transfers from the Lunar Gateway to low lunar orbit

Abstract

The Gateway will represent a primary space system useful for the Artemis program, Earth-Moon transportation, and deep space exploration. It is expected to serve as a staging location on the way to the lunar surface. This study focuses on low-thrust transfer dynamics, from the Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit traveled by Gateway to a specified Low-altitude Lunar Orbit (LLO). This research addresses: (i) determination of the minimum-time low-thrust trajectory and (ii) design, implementation, and testing of a guidance and control architecture, for a space vehicle that travels from Gateway to LLO. Orbit dynamics is described in terms of modified equinoctial elements, in the context of a high-fidelity ephemeris model. The minimum-time trajectory from Gateway to a specified lunar orbit is detected through an indirect heuristic approach, which uses the analytical conditions arising in optimal control theory in conjunction with a heuristic technique. However, future missions will pursue a growing level of autonomy, and this circumstance implies the mandatory design of an efficient feedback guidance scheme, capable of compensating for nonnominal flight conditions. This research proposes nonlinear orbit control as a viable option for autonomous explicit guidance of low-thrust transfers from Gateway to LLO. This approach allows defining a feedback law that enjoys quasi-global stability properties without requiring any offline reference trajectory. The overall spacecraft dynamics is modeled including attitude control and actuation. The latter is demanded to an array of reaction wheels, arranged in a pyramidal configuration. Guidance, attitude control, and actuation are implemented in an iterative scheme. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that the guidance and control architecture is effective with random starting points from Gateway and the temporary unavailability of the propulsion system.