Earth frozen orbits: Design, injection and stability

A frozen orbit is an orbit chosen such that the effect of perturbations on (a combination of) the mean orbital elements is minimized. The concept first appeared in literature in 1978, and was applied that same year to the Seasat mission. This altimetry mission featured strict requirements on the accuracy of the altitude of the satellite above...

Vacuum testing of a micropropulsion system based on solid propellant cool gas generators

The number of micro and nano satellite projects is expanding. Main focus is on providing these small satellites with the same capabilities as today's larger satellites. In the field of propulsion, efforts are on miniaturization of the on-board propulsion system. This though presents major challenges to the designers. TNO Defence, Security and...

Earth-Moon Transfer Orbits

This work is part of the ESA-project, that wants a preliminary study about the feasibility of building a permanent base on the south pole of the Moon, before July 1st 2020. Moreover after having completed the building phase, the maintenance has to be guaranteed for at least another ten years during the operational phase. The problem is tackled...

Transfer strategies to the L3 libration point of the Sun-Earth system

In this contribution, we investigate several trajectory design methods to transfer a spacecraft to the L3 point of the Sun-Earth Circular Restricted 3-Body Problem (CR3BP). Such a study aims at performing an investigation into an area that is so far little explored: the vicinity of L3 has never been the destination of a space mission, and in...