Design and analysis of an extended mission of CE-2: From lunar orbit to Sun–Earth L2 region

Chang’E-2 (CE-2) has firstly successfully achieved the exploring mission from lunar orbit to Sun–Earth L2 region. In this paper, we discuss the design problem of transfer trajectory and at the same time analyze the visible segment of Tracking, Telemetry & Control (TT&C) system for this mission. Firstly, the four-body problem of Sun–Earth–Moon and Spacecraft can be decoupled in two different three-body problems (Sun–Earth + Moon Restricted Three-Body Problems (RTBPs) and Earth–Moon ephemeris model). Then, the transfer trajectory segments in different model are computed, respectively, and patched by Poincaré sections. The full-flight trajectory including transfer trajectory from lunar orbit to Sun–Earth L2 region and target Lissajous orbit is obtained by the differential correction method. Finally, the visibility of TT&C system at the key time is analyzed. Actual execution of CE-2 extended mission shows that the trajectory design of CE-2 mission is feasible.