Abstract
This paper proposes a new concept of creating artificial equilibrium points in the circular restricted three-body problem, in which the third body uses a hybrid of solar sail and solar electric propulsion. The work aims to investigate the use of a hybrid sail for artificial equilibrium points that are technologically difficult with either of these propulsion systems alone. The hybrid sail has the freedom of specifying the sail lightness number, then minimizing the required thrust acceleration from the solar electric propulsion thruster while satisfying the equilibrium condition. The stability analysis of such artificial equilibrium points by a linear method results in a linear time-varying (mass) system. The freezing-time method then provides unstable and marginally stable regions for hybrid solar sail artificial equilibria. We compare these propulsion systems with a given payload mass and mission life for a polar observation mission. For a near-term sail assembly loading, we find for the hybrid sail a substantially lower propellant mass compared with solar electric propulsion, a lower sail length with respect to a solar sail, and a lower initial spacecraft mass.