Low energy escape trajectory for the Mars moon sample return mission

In this paper, we investigate the low-energy escape trajectory design for a mission called Martian Moons eXplorer to achieve the world's first sample return from Martian moon. The hybrid usage of chemical and electric propulsion with combination of the three-body and two-body problems has come into consideration in order to seek a fast low-energy escape from Mars. We first study the needs of pre-departure sequence. Then, we determine the transition point from a low-energy three-body phase to a low-thrust two-body phase, in which the tube dynamics is employed for the low-energy three-body phase. We finally develop charts to reveal the relation between the velocity in Mars Escape Injection maneuver and the required time of flight.