Evolution of the Selenopotential Model and Its Effects on the Propagation Accuracy of Orbits around the Moon

The current work analyzes the effect of applying different selenopotential models to the propagation of a lunar orbiting spacecraft. A brief evolution history of the selenopotential model is first presented; then, four representative selenopotential models are selected for force modeling. Expected propagation errors are presented with respect to three different circular polar orbits around the Moon. As a result, an expected but rather significant number of orbit propagation errors are discovered. Compared to the solutions obtained using the GRAIL1500E model, the overall 3D propagation errors for a 4-day period could reach up to several tens of kilometers (50 km altitude case with the GLGM2 model) and up to several hundreds of meters (50, 100, and 200 km altitude cases even with the GRAIL660B model). For each different orbiter’s altitude, the appropriate ranges of the degree and order of the gravitational harmonic coefficients are also suggested to yield the best propagation performances with respect to the performance obtained with the full harmonic coefficients using the GRAIL1500E model. The results of the current work are expected to serve as practical guidelines for the field of system budget analysis, mission design, mission operations, and the analysis of scientific results.