| Abstract: |
| The invariant structures of the circular restricted three-body problem (CR3BP) have been used successfully to design transfers in the Earth-Moon-Sun system and tours of giant planet moons. At the same time, space mission concept studies often seek the computational efficiency and the geometrical insight offered by the two-body problem. Merging the two approaches leads to a design technique, known as the patched three-body/two-body model, that facilitates the design of low-energy transfers in $n$-body systems. Trajectories associated with hyperbolic invariant manifolds of orbits around the L$_1$ and L$_2$ libration points are propagated in the CR3BP until they reach the surface of an {\it ad hoc} sphere of influence where the state vectors are transformed to osculating orbital elements relative to the larger primary. In this way, computing transfers between CR3BPs with a common primary turns into the search for intersections between confocal elliptical orbits. The contribution analyses this methodology and its benefits, and presents applications to the design of a tour of the Saturn system and rendezvous missions to Near Earth Objects. |
|