Continuous-Thrust Station-Keeping

Author: Tianjiang Shuo

Website: https://cislunarspace.cn

Definition

A station-keeping strategy that uses continuously operating thrusters (such as electric propulsion) to apply control forces without interruption, maintaining the spacecraft near its nominal orbit over long durations. Compared with impulsive strategies, continuous thrust provides finer orbit corrections but imposes engineering constraints on minimum thrust, maximum thrust, and thrust accuracy. The strategy applies to various cislunar orbits including DROs, halo orbits, and NRHOs; the 9:2 NRHO requires higher thrust magnitudes due to rapid velocity variations near perilune.

Application Value

This concept is fundamental to cislunar orbital mechanics and mission analysis, providing essential theoretical support for trajectory design and operational planning.

  • Retrograde Motion
  • Absolute Phase Bias
  • Relative Attitude Quaternion
  • Radial-Tangential-Normal Coordinate System, RTN

References

  • Zhang and Wang 2022 Continuous-thrust station-keeping of cis-lunar orbits using optimal sliding mode control with practical constraints
Improve this page
Last Updated:
Contributors: ouyangjiahong, Ou Yang Jiahong