Low-Thrust Trajectory Design from Lunar Rideshare to Venus Capture

Small spacecraft are likely to be launched as part of a rideshare mission rather than on a dedicated launch. These spacecraft typically use low-thrust propulsion systems as they have lower fuel mass requirements. However, without a dedicated launch, the lower thrust can make it difficult to reach interplanetary targets. Further mission design difficulties arise as the optimizers used to search for such trajectories often require a good initial guess, which can be difficult to find. This work patches together a perturbed Sims-Flanagan transcription in three different regimes, each with a different central body, to performa preliminary search for trajectories from a lunar rideshare to a weak capture around Venuswith little input required fromthemission designer. Example trajectories of such amission are presented. The ability of this mission architecture to arrive as close to Venus's upper atmosphere as possible is explored.