Control of solar sail periodic orbits in the elliptic three-body problem

A study was conducted to demonstrate the control of solar sail on a periodic orbit in the elliptic restricted three-body problem (ERTBP). The study used the model of solar sail in the context of the ERTBP with the Earth and sun as two primaries and solar sail as the third mass-less body. It was observed that a periodic orbit above the ecliptic in the circular case was inadequate for tracking in the solar sail ERTBP model. The study also demonstrated that the solar sail failed to track a periodic reference orbit obtained from the solar sail circular restricted three-body problem. The methods used for obtaining periodic reference trajectories above the ecliptic for the solar sail ERTBP were based on numerical continuation and a time-delayed feedback mechanism. These methods helped to obtain reference orbits that improved the tracking error of the solar sail.