Effective Time of Flight

Author: Tianjiang Shuo

Website: https://cislunarspace.cn

Definition

In low-energy transfer design, the actual flight time after subtracting the winding time spent near the Lyapunov orbit. Since most time on a manifold trajectory is consumed winding on and off the periodic orbit, a small maneuver can skip this phase, leaving the effective time of flight as a more practical engineering measure.

Application Value

The Effective Time of Flight plays a significant role in cislunar space mission design, analysis, and control. In orbital design, it can be leveraged for transfer trajectory optimization; in navigation and control, it improves mission execution precision and reliability; in system analysis, it facilitates deeper understanding of complex multi-body dynamical behavior, guiding mission planning and risk assessment.

  • Football Orbit
  • Orbit Chain
  • Prograde Polar Orbit
  • 偏心倾角矢量分离（Eccentricity/Inclination Vector Separation）

References

  • Fantino et al., 2010
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Contributors: ouyangjiahong, Ou Yang Jiahong