Local Lyapunov Exponent-Guided Stochastic Midcourse Correction Design of Low-Energy Earth-Moon Transfers
Abstract
Midcourse correction is essential for reliable cislunar transfer missions. For low-energy Earth-Moon transfers, strongly nonuniform error growth makes conventional correction strategies less effective. This paper proposes a stochastic midcourse correction design for low-energy Earth-Moon transfers based on local Lyapunov exponent (LLE). The local error-amplification characteristics of the nominal trajectory are first analyzed using an instantaneous LLE. The analysis shows that strong sensitivity is concentrated near periapsis, and that the LLE maxima coincide with regions of strong finite-time error growth. These maxima are therefore used to segment the trajectory and define the number of corrections. Based on this segmentation, a reduced parameterization is introduced to describe the correction epochs, while second-order state transition tensors (STTs) are employed for nonlinear correction targeting. The resulting timing variables are then optimized through a sample-average approximation of the chance-constrained stochastic problem. Paired Monte Carlo simulations show that, under the same mission-accuracy requirements, the proposed strategy greatly improves the reliability and robustness of trajectory recovery while requiring less correction cost than the classical Breakwell spacing-ratio strategy.
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BibTeX
@misc{wang2026local,
title = {{Local Lyapunov Exponent-Guided Stochastic Midcourse Correction Design of Low-Energy Earth-Moon Transfers}},
author = {Zihang Wang and Shuyue Fu and Di Wu and Shengping Gong},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.29390},
eprint = {2610.29390},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.29390},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Local Lyapunov Exponent-Guided Stochastic Midcourse Correction Design of Low-Energy Earth-Moon Transfers
AU - Zihang Wang
AU - Shuyue Fu
AU - Di Wu
AU - Shengping Gong
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.29390
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.29390
AB - Midcourse correction is essential for reliable cislunar transfer missions. For low-energy Earth-Moon transfers, strongly nonuniform error growth makes conventional correction strategies less effective. This paper proposes a stochastic midcourse correction design for low-energy Earth-Moon transfers based on local Lyapunov exponent (LLE). The local error-amplification characteristics of the nominal trajectory are first analyzed using an instantaneous LLE. The analysis shows that strong sensitivity is concentrated near periapsis, and that the LLE maxima coincide with regions of strong finite-time error growth. These maxima are therefore used to segment the trajectory and define the number of corrections. Based on this segmentation, a reduced parameterization is introduced to describe the correction epochs, while second-order state transition tensors (STTs) are employed for nonlinear correction targeting. The resulting timing variables are then optimized through a sample-average approximation of the chance-constrained stochastic problem. Paired Monte Carlo simulations show that, under the same mission-accuracy requirements, the proposed strategy greatly improves the reliability and robustness of trajectory recovery while requiring less correction cost than the classical Breakwell spacing-ratio strategy.
ER -