About this Research Topic

Background

The region of space inside the Moon's orbit is denoted as Cislunar space. In recent years, the space community has shown a renewed technological and scientific interest in exploiting this portion of outer space. Future lunar and solar system exploration missions will be supported by a complex infrastructure of space systems orbiting in the Cislunar region, guaranteeing continuous human and robotic presence well beyond Earth orbits, diffuse communication relay networks, and advanced navigation systems. This new Moon race demands the upgrade of consolidated space technologies in order to cope with the unique features of the cislunar environment. In particular, astrodynamics, guidance, navigation, and control techniques are facing new and more challenging goals that can be better pursued by exploiting the chaotic multi-body dynamics of the n-body problem and its different flavors.

The goal of this research topic on astrodynamics, guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) leveraging multi-body dynamics is to highlight the most innovative methods, tools, technologies and solutions about trajectory design and spacecraft control in chaotic multi-body environments, such as the Earth-Moon system. The topic is open to both the orbital and rotational dynamics of spacecraft, formations, and constellations. Thus, both absolute and relative multi-body non-Keplerian dynamics are expected to be addressed in the collection of the submitted papers. The multi-body system models can range from the simple circular restricted three-body problem (CR3BP) to more complex ephemerides n-body schemes. Comparisons between different modelling approaches are welcomed, focusing on the impact of the selected approximations on the design outcomes. The goals of the submitted works can range from analytical analyses on novel and relevant natural dynamics existing in multi-body systems, to GNC algorithms specifically designed to work in these environments. Innovative solutions contributing to system autonomy and pushing maneuver accuracy are of interest, with emphasis on advanced navigation and trajectory planning methods. The topic is also open to works discussing system-specific aspects, such as instrumentation, propulsion, and computing requirements.

The scope of the research topic is to collect full-length original manuscripts, as well as survey and review papers on the most updated astrodynamics and GNC methods and solutions.

This research topic welcomes any relevant work addressing the problems dealing with orbit design and maintenance, including the use of space propulsion technologies for station-keeping, attitude control, precision pointing, and spacecraft GNC in chaotic multi-body environments. The specific themes of Earth-Moon system dynamical modelling comparisons, and Cislunar system technologies are welcomed in the submissions. Additionally, research discussing system autonomy, and application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to multi-body dynamics are of interest for the research topic.

We welcome research including, yet not limited to, the following themes:

• Natural cis-lunar and circum-lunar dynamics boosting trajectory design and control.

• Innovative non-Keplerian orbit maintenance solutions.

• Multi-body dynamics methods to improve orbital transfer in outer space.

• Autonomous absolute and relative navigation methods in the lunar vicinity.

• Advanced control methods for complex operations in Cislunar space.

• Specific system design to improve Cislunar space operations, including the use of space propulsion technologies.

Keywords: Astrodynamics, Multi-body non-Keplerian dynamics, Cislunar Space, Trajectory Design, GNC

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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