Trajectory design for the Earth-asteroid-Earth mission taking into account the choice of the near-asteroid stay orbits

This paper investigates spacecraft (SC) trajectories for the mission to a potentially dangerous asteroid, staying there for some time and following returning its samples to Earth in order to study the asteroid and reduce the asteroid hazard. This paper develops a two-step method for constructing interplanetary trajectories of the Earth-asteroid and asteroid-Earth transfers, as well as a method for analyzing the asteroid’s satellite orbits. Optimal interplanetary trajectories for the Earth-Apophis-Earth mission using high thrust engines are found by maximizing the spacecraft payload mass. The near Apophis orbital motions of the main SC and the mini-satellite with a radio beacon have been studied taking into account three types of perturbations: the gravitational effects from some distant celestial bodies, the nonsphericity of Apophis and the solar radiation pressure (SRP).