Trajectory Design for the ESA LISA Mission

The three Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) spacecraft are going to be placed in a triangular formation in an Earth-trailing or Earth-leading orbit. They will be launched together on a single rocket and transferred to that science orbit using Solar Electric Propulsion. Since the transfer Delta v depends on the chosen science orbit, both transfer and science orbit have been optimised together. For a thrust level of 90 mN, an allocation of 1092 m/s per spacecraft is sufficient for an all-year launch in 2034. For every launch month a dedicated science orbit is designed with a corner angle variation of 60 degrees +/- 1.0 degrees and an arm length rate of maximum 10 m/s. Moreover, a detailed navigation analysis of the science orbit insertion and the impact on insertion errors on the constellation stability has been conducted. The analysis shows that Range/Doppler measurements together with a series of correction manoeuvres at the beginning of the science orbit phase can reduce insertion dispersions to a level where corner angle variations remain at about 60 degrees +/- 1.1 degrees at 99% C.L. However, the situation can become significantly worse if the self-gravity accelerations acting during the science orbit phase are not sufficiently characterised prior to science orbit insertion.