Preliminary investigation of potential cislunar disposal trajectories for the southern butterfly orbit family
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-25-2026
Abstract
This paper investigates end-of-life disposal for satellites operating in the southern butterfly orbit family. Previous literature explored transfer capabilities of the southern butterfly family for various missions relative to lunar exploration, but not for disposal. This paper fills this research gap and investigates the practicality of various transfer trajectories for disposal chosen from unstable manifolds propagated from a selected southern butterfly orbit. Using the Circular Restricted 3-Body Problem (CR3BP), a campaign of trajectory cases is investigated to evaluate the feasibility of different trajectory options for cislunar disposal. Seven from a total of 43 disposal routes are showcased, with disposal assessments and the factors contributing to these conclusions identified. Overall, 40 routes were found to be possible for cislunar disposal, with a further subset of 10 assessed as favorable for decommissioning satellites. This paper also explores the possibility of using manifold-based trajectories for cislunar disposal and targeting a Sun–Earth 1:1 resonance orbit as a graveyard orbit for satellites leaving a southern butterfly orbit. Analysis revealed that all satellite cases unable to reach the graveyard orbit due to insufficient propellant for the transfer maneuver will enter quasi-periodic orbits in the Sun–Earth system and eventually re-enter the Earth’s gravitational sphere of influence (SOI).
Source Publication
The Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation: Applications, Methodology, Technology
Recommended Citation
Norris, C. G., & Bettinger, R. A. (2026). Preliminary investigation of potential cislunar disposal trajectories for the southern butterfly orbit family. The Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation: Applications, Methodology, Technology, 15485129261449781. https://doi.org/10.1177/15485129261449781
Comments
The full paper is available from the publisher, Sage Journals, via subscription or purchase, using the DOI link on this page.
This work was was published in May 2026 as an article of JDMS ahead of inclusion in an issue of that journal..