Title: A numerical and statistical analysis of low-energy transfer orbits to the Moon Authors: Roberto Capuzzo-Dolcetta, Marco Giancotti
We present a study of a class of Earth-Moon transfer trajectories, called low-energy orbits, that only require small velocity impulses to inject a probe into a stable lunar orbit. These carry obvious advantages for practical applications but usually require longer times to complete. We make a statistical study of such orbits, to compare, on one side, their characteristics with those of classic Hohmann transfers and, on another side, to aid the choice of the most appropriate orbit for any specific mission through multi-objective optimisation.