• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.123-129
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• 2023

This paper presents an analysis of the trans-lunar trajectory insertion performance of the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), the first lunar exploration spacecraft of the Republic of Korea. The successful launch conducted on August 4, 2022 (UTC), utilized the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The trans-lunar trajectory insertion performance plays a crucial role in ensuring the overall mission success by directly influencing the spacecraft's onboard fuel consumption. Following separation from the launch vehicle (LV), a comprehensive analysis of the trajectory insertion performance was performed by the KPLO flight dynamics (FD) team. Both orbit parameter message (OPM) and orbit determination (OD) solutions were employed using deep space network (DSN) tracking measurements. As a result, the KPLO was accurately inserted into the ballistic lunar transfer (BLT) trajectory, satisfying all separation requirements at the target interface point (TIP), including launch injection energy per unit mass (C3), right ascension of the injection orbit apoapsis vector (RAV), and declination of the injection orbit apoapsis vector (DAV). The precise BLT trajectory insertion facilitated the smoother operation of the KPLO's remainder mission phase and enabled the utilization of reserved fuel, consequently significantly enhancing the possibilities of an extended mission.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.38 no.10
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• pp.998-1011
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• 2010

For preparing Korean lunar missions, an Earth-Moon transfer trajectory is designed and analyzed using finite thrust. To be a more realistic scenario, kick motor's performance which is used for TLI (Trans Lunar Injection) maneuver is assumed to have a certain maximum capability. Under this assumption, optimal Earth-Moon transfer trajectory analysis is made from the beginning of Earth departure to the final lunar closest approach. As a results, optimal Earth-Moon transfer trajectory solutions with finite thrust are compared to those of designed with impulsive thrust in previous study. It is confirmed that if the trajectory solutions derived with impulsive burn is directly applied to estimate the finite burn trajectory solutions, careful consideration for finite burn losses must be paid as for TLI maneuver. Presented algorithm and various results will give numerous insights into the future Korea's Lunar missions using finite thrust engines.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.108-116
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• 2009

This paper considers the trajectory design problem for a lunar orbiter when launched by KSLV-II. KSLV-II puts its kick motor stage and lunar orbiter into a low earth orbit, and then the kick motor stage performed the translunar injection. To simulate more realistic situations, TLI (Trans-Lunar Injection) and LOI (Lunar Orbit Injection) maneuvers are modeled as finite burns. The feasibility of the lunar mission by KSLV-II are confirmed by the numerical results that show the reasonable required-velocity and propellant usage.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.12
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• pp.950-958
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• 2013

The Lunar orbiter is expected to be inserted into a ~300km low Earth orbit using Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II(KSLV-II). After the states are successfully determined with obtained tracking data, the Trans Lunar Injection(TLI) burn has to be done at appropriate epoch to send the lunar orbiter to the Moon. In this study, we describe in detail the mission scenario of the Korean lunar orbiter from the launch at NARO Space Center to lunar orbit insertion(LOI) stage following direct transfer trajectory. We investigate the launch window including launch azimuth, delta-V profile according to TLI and LOI burn positions. We also depict the visibility conditions of ground stations and solar eclipse duration to understand the characteristics of the direct transfer trajectory. This paper can be also helpful not only for overall understanding of ${\Delta}V$ trend by changing TOF and coasting time but for selecting launch epoch and control parameters to decrease fuel consumption.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.195-204
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• 2010

The optimal Earth-Moon transfer trajectory considering spacecraft's visibility from the Daejeon ground station visibility at both the trans lunar injection (TLI) and lunar orbit insertion (LOI) maneuvers is designed. Both the TLI and LOI maneuvers are assumed to be impulsive thrust. As the successful execution of the TLI and LOI maneuvers are crucial factors among the various lunar mission parameters, it is necessary to design an optimal lunar transfer trajectory which guarantees the visibility from a specified ground station while executing these maneuvers. The optimal Earth-Moon transfer trajectory is simulated by modifying the Korean Lunar Mission Design Software using Impulsive high Thrust Engine (KLMDS-ITE) which is developed in previous studies. Four different mission scenarios are established and simulated to analyze the effects of the spacecraft's visibility considerations at the TLI and LOI maneuvers. As a result, it is found that the optimal Earth-Moon transfer trajectory, guaranteeing the spacecraft's visibility from Daejeon ground station at both the TLI and LOI maneuvers, can be designed with slight changes in total amount of delta-Vs. About 1% difference is observed with the optimal trajectory when none of the visibility condition is guaranteed, and about 0.04% with the visibility condition is only guaranteed at the time of TLI maneuver. The spacecraft's mass which can delivered to the Moon, when both visibility conditions are secured is shown to be about 534 kg with assumptions of KSLV-2's on-orbit mass about 2.6 tons. To minimize total mission delta-Vs, it is strongly recommended that visibility conditions at both the TLI and LOI maneuvers should be simultaneously implemented to the trajectory optimization algorithm.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.50 no.12
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• pp.867-875
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• 2022

The preliminary mission analysis of a lunar lander, which is mounted on the upper stage of a Korean space launch vehicle, is performed when landing on the moon through a trans-lunar injection maneuver after being injected into the earth's low orbit by th launcher in this paper. Both direct landing and orbital landing methods, which have each advantage and disadvantages, are applied and their transfer orbit characteristics are analyzed according to the launch date when launching in lunar October 2030. We also analyzed the launch dates which satisfying eclipse conditions, solar elevation conditions, and tracking time intervals such as the US lunar lander Surveyor-1. The obtained results show that the most appropriate launch date is the 4th day of lunar October in case of direct landing method, and the 3rd day in case of indirect landing method, since the argument of perigee of the trans-lunar injection orbit and eclipse conditions are favorable in the dates.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.171-186
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• 2009

Various Earth-Moon transfer trajectories are designed and analyzed to prepare the future Korea's Lunar missions. Minimum fuel trajectory solutions are obtained for the departure year of 2017, 2020, 2022, and every required mission phases are analyzed from Earth departure to the final lunar mission orbit. N-body equations of motion are formulated which include the gravitational effect of the Sun, Earth and Moon. In addition, accelerations due to geopotential harmonics, Lunar J2 and solar radiation pressures are considered. Impulsive high thrust is assumed as the main thrusting method of spacecraft with launcher capability of KSLV-2 which is planned to be developed. For the method of injecting a spacecraft into a trans Lunar trajectory, both direct shooting from circular parking orbit and shooting from the multiple elliptical intermediate orbits are adapted, and their design results are compared and analyzed. In addition, spacecraft's visibility from Deajeon ground station are constrained to see how they affect the magnitude of TLI(Trans Lunar Injection) maneuver. The results presented in this paper includes launch opportunities, required optimal maneuver characteristics for each mission phase as well as the trajectory characteristics and numerous related parameters. It is confirmed that the final mass of Korean lunar explorer strongly depends onto the initial parking orbit's altitude and launcher's capability, rather than mission start time.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.69-77
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• 2012

After lunar explorations were restarted in 1990s, the world space advanced countries have been competing actively to preoccupy the Moon from the 2000s. Korea has been also conducting precedent study on lunar exploration to carry out that by ourselves in 2020. This study analyzed delta-V of various Earth-Moon transfer trajectories for minimization of fuel consumption. Through the simulation, the best Earth-Moon transfer trajectory for Korean lunar mission is suggested and it will be used as useful materials of Korean lunar mission.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.42 no.8
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• pp.654-660
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• 2014

In this paper, a conceptual design of a launch vehicles is proposed by combining Naro-1 and KSLV-II. For trans-lunar injection (TLI) to lunar orbit at 300 km LEO, the target performance is defined same as that of KSLV-II, which delivers an object of 2.6 tons into 300 km LEO. The proposal launch vehicle concept of this study is combination of 1st stage of KSLV-I and 2-3rd stage of KSLV-II. Thus, it is possible to reduce the development time and also could expand the options for national launch vehicle capabilities with proven technologies.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.51-61
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• 2014

In this work, the preliminary analysis on both the tracking schedule and measurements characteristics for the spacecraft on the phase of lunar transfer and capture is performed. To analyze both the tracking schedule and measurements characteristics, lunar transfer and capture phases' optimized trajectories are directly adapted from former research, and eleven ground tracking facilities (three Deep Space Network sties, seven Near Earth Network sites, one Daejeon site) are assumed to support the mission. Under these conceptual mission scenarios, detailed tracking schedules and expected measurement characteristics during critical maneuvers (Trans Lunar Injection, Lunar Orbit Insertion and Apoapsis Adjustment Maneuver), especially for the Deajeon station, are successfully analyzed. The orders of predicted measurements' variances during lunar capture phase according to critical maneuvers are found to be within the order of mm/s for the range and micro-deg/s for the angular measurements rates which are in good agreement with the recommended values of typical measurement modeling accuracies for Deep Space Networks. Although preliminary navigation accuracy guidelines are provided through this work, it is expected to give more practical insights into preparing the Korea's future lunar mission, especially for developing flight dynamics subsystem.