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I am working on a project for a lunar flyby using a CubeSat. I was wondering what kind of trajectory transfer options are present and which one would be best for a CubeSat? I'm aiming for a transfer from either 400km LEO or GTO to a 100km Low Lunar Orbit.

EDIT

After doing some research on electric propulsion engines, I've finalised on using the MiXi thruster. I have been working on simulating this on GMAT, right now I am able to get a flyby at a very high altitude (3590 km) which is definitely not enough. Additionally, I have been trying to perform the flyby near Mare Tranquilititus. The GMAT tutorials do cover this problem, however, they're using a plugin called VF13ad, which I have not been able to figure out how to install and run on my PC.

Bruce Vici
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Bruce Vici
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    Flyby or Orbit? starting from GTO should be easier. You'd probably be looking at a trajectory like that used for Chandrayaan-2 –  Apr 02 '20 at 08:54
  • What's about communication to and from a cubesat over such a long distance from Earth to the Moon? Increasing communication distance by a factor of 1000 (from 400 to about 400000 km) is not easy. – Uwe Apr 02 '20 at 11:08
  • What's about the neccessary fuel for lunar orbit insertion? Does it fit into the cubesat? Low lunar orbits may be instable due to lunar mascons. – Uwe Apr 02 '20 at 11:22
  • Are you sticking with some absolute design limits for a "Cubesat," such as total fuel/thrust capability, or are you just using a generic term for a small satellite? – Carl Witthoft Apr 02 '20 at 14:41
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    you would need almost all the space to be fuel – Topcode Apr 02 '20 at 16:36
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    Hi @BruceVici If you have two accounts (new registered and old unregistered) and would like to merge them into one account, there is a standard process for that. – uhoh Apr 28 '20 at 08:55

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there's effectively none. Hypergolics are not allowed in cubesats, and delta-v req. LEO->LLO is 4 and 8 km/s (high-thrust low-thrust) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta-v_budget

So, spec it for moonlaunch rideshare, if possible.

You might want to have a look at Cornell university electrolysis solution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cislunar_Explorers https://cislunarexplorers.wordpress.com/

There's an excellent article of their cubesat configuration (and required lightweight astronav solution) on IEEE AESS magazine volume 34, number 9, september 2019: Contents: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=8826567 Purchase: https://resourcecenter.aess.ieee.org/publications/aess-electronic-magazine/AESSMAG0380.html

Interesting subject. Hope that you can find a solution that works for you.

HTH, PF

Petri J.C. Flander
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