Dynamical Flow Characteristics in Response to a Maneuver in the L1 or L2 Earth-Moon Region

<p>National security concerns regarding cislunar space have become more prominent due to</p> <p>the anticipated increase in cislunar activity. Predictability is one of these concerns. Cislunar</p> <p>motion is difficult to predict because it is chaotic. The chaotic nature of cislunar motion is</p> <p>pronounced near the L1 and L2 Lagrange points. For this reason, among others, it is likely</p> <p>that a red actor (an antagonist) would have its cislunar spacecraft perform a maneuver in</p> <p>one of the aforementioned vicinities to reach some cislunar point of interest. This realization</p> <p>unveils the need to ascertain some degree of predictability in the motion resulting from a</p> <p>maneuver performed in the L1 or L2 region. To investigate said motion, impulsive maneuvers</p> <p>are employed on the L1 and L2 Lagrange points and on L1 and L2 Lyapunov orbits in the</p> <p>model that is the circular restricted three-body problem. The behavior of the resultant</p> <p>trajectories is analyzed to understand how the magnitude and direction of a maneuver in</p> <p>said regions affect the behavior of the resultant trajectory. It is found that the direction</p> <p>of such maneuvers is particularly influential with respect to said behavior. Regarding both</p> <p>the L1 and L2 regions, certain maneuver directions yield certain behaviors in the resultant</p> <p>trajectory over a wide range of maneuver magnitudes. This understanding is informative to</p> <p>cislunar mission design.</p>