Earth-Mars Transfers with Ballistic Escape and Low-Thrust Capture

In this paper novel Earth-Mars transfers are presented. These transfers exploit the natural dynamics of n-body models as well as the high specific impulse typical of low-thrust systems. The Moon-perturbed version of the Sun-Earth problem is introduced to design ballistic escape orbits performing lunar gravity assists. The ballistic capture is designed in the Sun-Mars system where special attainable sets are defined and used to handle the low-thrust control. The complete trajectory is optimized in the full n-body problem which takes into account planets' orbital inclinations and eccentricities. Accurate, efficient solutions with reasonable flight times are presented and compared with known results.