Abstract A low-energy, low-thrust transfer between two halo orbits associated with two coupled three-body systems is studied in this paper. The transfer is composed of a ballistic departure, a ballistic insertion and a powered phase using low-thrust propulsion to connect these two trajectories. The ballistic departure and insertion are computed by constructing the unstable and stable invariant manifolds of the corresponding halo orbits, and a complete low-energy transfer based on the patched invariant manifolds is optimized using the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm on the criterion of smallest velocity discontinuity and limited position discontinuity (less than 1km). Then, the result is expropriated as the boundary conditions for the subsequent low-thrust trajectory design. The fuel-optimal problem is formulated using the calculus of variations and Pontryagin's Maximum Principle in a complete four-body dynamical environment. Then, a typical bang–bang control is derived and solved using the indirect method combined with a homotopic technique. The contributions of the present work mainly consist of two points. Firstly, the global search method proposed in this paper is simply handled using the PSO algorithm, a number of feasible solutions in a fairly wide range can be delivered without a priori or perfect knowledge of the transfers. Secondly, the indirect optimization method is used in the low-thrust trajectory design and the derivations of the first-order necessary conditions are simplified with a modified controlled, restricted four-body model.

Highlights • A systematic method to design a low-energy, low-thrust transfer is outlined. • The benefits of invariant manifolds and low-thrust trajectories are combined. • The smallest velocity discontinuity of two manifolds is sought skillfully. • The indirect method combined with a homotopic technique is applied. • Compared with chemical propulsion, nearly 70% of propellant mass is saved.