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NASA's Habitation Development Status: Current Concepts and ISRU Opportunities

Introduction: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is embarking on a bold journey to return humankind to the Moon and onward to Mars with innovative commercial, international, and academic partnerships [1]. Under the Artemis series of missions, NASA seeks to establish sustained human exploration of deep space through an objectives-based approach [2]. This approach drives the identification of needed system functionality and the current and future capabilities which will eventually allow humanity to sustainably live beyond Earth. Providing evolvable and scalable habitation is a cornerstone function that calls for the collection and integration of current, developmental, and future technologies that can meet near-term exploration needs while growing into long-term sustained presence. NASA is advancing in-space habitation through its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) model while designing lunar, Mars transit, and Mars surface habitat government reference concepts for Artemis missions. These efforts have unveiled possible near-term opportunities for the in-space resource utilization community if human habitation is considered a future customer of space resources. NextSTEP Habitation Development: NASA is closely working with commercial partners under its NextSTEP Appendix A model to advance habitation systems in the arena of inflatable and composite habitation structures. Such efforts promise efficiencies in volumetric packaging and overall spacecraft mass respectively. Recent testing by commercial partners have helped to quantify possible failure mechanisms for inflatable structures while advancing their technology towards eventual flight certification. The advancement of such Class II habitation structures, in which the habitat is only fully deployed once in-space or on a planetary surface [3], is critical to providing increased habitable volume for long-duration missions with no additional mass penalties. The progression of such technology is infused into NASA’s government reference concepts for notional deep space habitation concepts. Current Government Reference Concepts: To best inform the formulation of future collaborative solicitations, NASA employs the practice of internally developing reference concepts for future exploration elements. These concepts aid in identifying the functions and capabilities needed to complete NASA missions as well as feasible solutions within the timeframe needed. Government reference concepts for a lunar Surface Habitat, Mars Transit Habitat, and Mars Sur-face Habitat are continuously being developed and updated to better guide the Agency’s overall exploration architecture. Lunar Surface Habitat. As NASA returns to the Moon, it is evaluating possible lunar surface habitation concepts. The Surface Habitat (SH) reference concept entails a hybrid metallic-inflatable structure capable of initially housing two crew for surface stays of up to 30 days in duration [4]. While initial missions may span ~7 days in duration, consideration is being given to expanding SH’s capability to support a crew of four for up to 60 days over its 15-year design life [5]. Functionally, the SH serves as a ‘hub’ for all Artemis crewed surface operations, providing internal volume for maintenance, medical, logistics, science utilization, and extravehicular activity (EVA) support in addition to core habitation functionality such as environmental control and life support (ECLS) and power generation and distribution among many others. Additionally, NASA has entered a study agreement with the Italian Space Agency (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana – ASI) to investigation a possible Multi-Purpose Habitat (MPH) as an additional or augmenting habit-able element for the lunar surface [6]. Mars Transit Habitat. NASA’s current architectural concept for initial human missions to Mars entails the utilization of a transit habitat (TH) to transport a four-person crew to and from Mars orbit, departing from and returning to a lunar near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO), over the course of a ~1,200-day mission [5]. While holding a similar 15-year design lifetime, TH will also support a series of analog mission activities in NRHO to gradually test the systems and interaction with lunar surface elements, some of which may be adapted for Mars surface exploration. Holding similar functional capabilities as SH, TH is sized to support much longer durations in space and greater logistical independence. Mars Surface Habitat. NASA is still exploring the concept of operations for initial crewed missions to Mars. As such, the Mars Surface Habitat (MSH) concept is still in its infancy as options for mobile, pressurized habitation and stationary habitats are being explored. It is expected MSH will leverage heavily from the lunar SH and possible lunar pressurized rover, however the very different Martian environment will likely necessitate modifications. ISRU Opportunities: Despite the advancements under NASA’s NextSTEP habitation work and continually optimized reference concepts, NASA is facing near-term mass and power challenges that may create opportunities to the ISRU community by providing yet another possible customer for space resources. While NASA desires to use regenerative ECLS systems (ECLSS) for all habitation concepts, their operation comes with initial mass penalties and maintenance overheads when compared to simpler open-loop architectures. Because of this, NASA is currently pro-posing an open-loop, consumables-based architecture for its surface habitats to achieve initial launch and delivery lander mass targets while scarring for the in-corporation of regenerative ECLSS to meet longer mission durations and sustained presence. With such an architecture, oxygen and potable water are needed consumables, which initial ISRU systems may be able to provide in a pilot capacity. Although the TH is expecting to utilize regenerative ECLSS, advancements in lunar surface-based ISRU and possible re-supply of spacecraft in lunar or Mars orbit could significantly reduce the logistical need for ECLSS related spares on TH and possibly allow a similar open-loop and consumables-based architecture. Table 1 Notional ECLSS consumables per mission use for SH and TH [5]. SH (28-day) Open Loop: Water (kg) 288 | Oxygen (kg) 30 TH (1110-day) Closed-Loop: Water (kg) 182 | Oxygen (kg) 123 In addition to ECLSS mass concerns, the SH is facing challenges with energy storage to support operations over periods of darkness exceeding 100 hours. Both battery and fuel cell-based power architectures are being traded, opening options for external power generation and energy storage. One possibility is ISRU-produced H2 and O2 feeding external primary fuel cell systems which could supplement habitation power generation while reducing initial mass and volume until much more powerful fission power systems might be deployed. Conclusion: Significant advancements are being made in evolvable habitation concepts that span from near-term technologies, such as inflatable structures under NextSTEP, to potentially revolutionary capabilities like the lunar surface construction as funded through the Moon-to-Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technologies (MMPACT) project [7]. As NASA investigates both heritage capabilities and rap-idly advancing, disruptive technologies, there are likely many near-term opportunities for initial ISRU capabilities to significantly aid human habitation and increase self-sufficiency beyond Earth.

habitation↗

Logistics Needs for Potential Deep Space Mission Scenarios Post Asteroid Redirect Crewed Mission

The Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) is currently being explored as the next step towards deep space human exploration, with the ultimate goal of reaching Mars. NASA is currently investigating a number of potential human exploration missions, which will progressively increase the distance and duration that humans spend away from Earth. Missions include extended human exploration in cis-lunar space which, as conceived, would involve durations of around 60 days, and human missions to Mars, which are anticipated to be as long as 1000 days. The amount of logistics required to keep the crew alive and healthy for these missions is significant. It is therefore important that the design and planning for these missions include accurate estimates of logistics requirements. This paper provides a description of a process and calculations used to estimate mass and volume requirements for crew logistics, including consumables, such as food, personal items, gasses, and liquids. Determination of logistics requirements is based on crew size, mission duration, and the degree of closure of the environmental control life support system (ECLSS). Details are provided on the consumption rates for different types of logistics and how those rates were established. Results for potential mission scenarios are presented, including a breakdown of mass and volume drivers. Opportunities for mass and volume reduction are identified, along with potential threats that could possibly increase requirements.

Lopez, Pedro, Jr.↗

The Nomad Explorer assembly assist vehicle: An architecture for rapid global extraterrestrial base infrastructure establishment

Traditional concepts of lunar bases describe scenarios where components of the bases are landed on the lunar surface, one at a time, and then put together to form a complete stationary lunar habitat. Recently, some concepts have described the advantages of operating a mobile or 'roving' lunar base. Such a base vastly improves the exploration range from a primary lunar base. Roving bases would also allow the crew to first deploy, test, operationally certify, and then regularly maintain, service, and evolve long life-cycle facilities like observatories or other science payload platforms that are operated far apart from each other across the extraterrestrial surface. The Nomad Explorer is such a mobile lunar base. This paper describes the architectural program of the Nomad Explorer, its advantages over a stationary lunar base, and some of the embedded system concepts which help the roving base to speedily establish a global extraterrestrial infrastructure. A number of modular autonomous logistics landers will carry deployable or erectable payloads, service, and logistically resupply the Nomad Explorer at regular intercepts along the traverse. Starting with the deployment of science experiments and telecommunication networks, and the manned emplacement of a variety of remote outposts using a unique EVA Bell system that enhances manned EVA, the Nomad Explorer architecture suggests the capability for a rapid global development of the extraterrestrial body. The Moon and Mars are candidates for this 'mission oriented' strategy. The lunar case is emphasized in this paper.

Thangavelu, Madhu↗

A lunar venture

As the Earth's space station is in its final stages of design, the dream of a permanent manned space facility is now a reality. Despite this monumental achievement, however, man's quest to extend human habitation further out into space is far from being realized. The next logical step in space exploration must be the construction of a permanent lunar base. This lunar infrastucture can, in turn, be used as a staging ground for further exploration of the remote regions of the solar system. As outlined by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the lunar base program consists of three exploratory and implementation phases. In response to the technological and facility requirements of Phase 1 and 2 of this program, the Aerospace Vehicle Design Program of the University of Virgina (UVA) is proud to present a preliminary design for such a lunar infrastructure. This study is a comprehensive evaluation of the mission requirements as well as the design criteria for space vehicles and facilities. The UVA Lunar Venture is a dual system that consists of a lunar space station and a fleet of lunar landers/transporters. With such a design, it is demonstrated that all initial exploratory and construction requirements for the lunar base can be efficiently satisfied. Additionally, the need for such a dual system is justified both from a logistic and economic standpoint.

Lee, Joo Ahn↗

Thermal Analysis of NRHO Entry Lunar Flyby Maneuver

NASA’s Gateway will serve as a platform for sustained human lunar exploration and an opportunity to gain experience with long duration deep-space architectures. The first two Gateway modules, the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) are scheduled to launch together as a Co-Manifested Vehicle (CMV) in 2024. To reach the destination Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO), the CMV will perform a low-thrust electric propulsion spiral and a final transfer maneuver that will include a low altitude flyby of the lunar surface. This flyby thermal environment is more adverse than that expected during the NRHO itself and risks temperature exceedances on various spacecraft components. The highly transient nature of the flyby also required a different approach than the typical worst-case dissipation margins used to size the spacecraft thermal control systems. This paper presents analyses on the relative severity of different minimum perilune altitudes and results of an integrated CMV thermal model built in Thermal Desktop.

lunar flyby maneuver↗

Archway for Radiation and Micrometeorite Occurrence Resistance

The environmental conditions of the Moon require mitigation if a long-term human presence is to be achieved for extended periods of time. Radiation, micrometeoroid impacts, high-velocity debris, and thermal cycling represent threats to crew, equipment, and facilities. For decades, local regolith has been suggested as a candidate material to use in the construction of protective barriers. A thickness of roughly 3m is sufficient protection from both direct and secondary radiation from cosmic rays and solar protons; this thickness is sufficient to reduce radiation exposure even during solar flares. NASA has previously identified a need for innovations that will support lunar habitats using lightweight structures because the reduction of structural mass translates directly into additional up and down mass capability that would facilitate additional logistics capacity and increased science return for all mission phases. The development of non-pressurized primary structures that have synergy with the development of pressurized structures is also of interest. The use of indigenous or in situ materials is also a well-known and active area of research that could drastically improve the practicality of human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit. The Archway for Radiation and Micrometeorite Occurrence Resistance (ARMOR) concept is a new, multifunctional structure that acts as radiation shielding and micrometeorite impact shielding for long-duration lunar surface protection of humans and equipment. ARMOR uses a combination of native regolith and a deployed membrane jacket to yield a multifunctional structure. ARMOR is a robust and modular system that can be autonomously assembled on-site prior to the first human surface arrival. The system provides protection by holding a sufficiently thick (3 m) archshaped shell of local regolith around a central cavity. The regolith is held in shape by an arch-shaped jacket made of strong but deployable material. No regolith processing is required. During the regolith filling process, an inflatable structure under the arch supports the mass of the regolith, but once regolith filling is complete the catenary arch formed by the regolith and the jacket becomes self-supporting and the inflatable can be deflated and removed. When complete, habitat modules and equipment can be moved into the protected cavity under the arch. ARMOR is a nearterm system that would provide a reliable and robust lightweight structure technology to support large lunar habitats, drastically lower launch mass, and improve efficient volume use, reducing launch costs.

Giersch, Louis R.↗

NASA Plans for In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Development, Demonstration, and Implementation

The United States (US) National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Artemis Moon to Mars program has four major goals: (1) Returning Americans to the Moon: 1st Woman & 1st Person of Color, (2) Learning to live and work on the Moon, (3) Translating lessons learned so that the United States has capabilities and operational experience for a mission to Mars, and (4) Inspires the next generation of explorers, researchers, scientists, and engineers worldwide. Overarching all of this, the NASA Artemis program also continues to follow Space Policy Directive One (SPD-1) which directs the US to lead an innovative and sustainable exploration program with commercial and international partners. A major objective to achieve the Artemis program goals and SPD-1 is to understand and characterize the resources that exist at these destinations, and to learn how to utilize these resources for sustained human exploration and the commercialization of space. This ability, commonly known as In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), involves any hardware or operation that harnesses and utilizes local resources to create products and services for robotic and human explo-ration. The NASA ISRU program is focused on the production of mission consumables and com-modities to enable sustained human exploration, such as rocket propellants, life support consuma-bles, fuel cell reactants, feedstock for manufacturing and construction, and nutrients for food and plant growth. In particular, propellants make up a significant fraction of the mass launched from Earth, are critical to mission success, and can reduce the cost for reusable transportation. Important for enabling long term surface stays, greater independence from Earth, and growing lunar infra-structure are the abilities to perform construction and manufacturing from in situ-derived metals and materials to create and expand on the infrastructure and reduce the logistical resupply needed for sustained surface and space operations. To achieve these ISRU capabilities, NASA, in partner-ship with industry, academia, and international partners has initiated a multi-faceted program which involves (i) Determining Customer Needs (Type and Quantity of Commodities), (ii) supporting ground Development of Hardware and Systems until Ready for Lunar Flight, (iii) utilize Commer-cial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) flights to fly resource assessment missions with the Science Mission Directorate (SMD), and public-private partnership (PPP) ISRU demonstrations of critical technologies and processes, and (iv) performing commercial-led end-to-end ‘Pilot’ Plant production of commodities and demonstration of usage at a scale and duration that minimizes or eliminates risk for full implementation of ISRU-derived commodities in mission critical applications. This paper will discuss the technologies, mission studies, and accomplishments achieved to date for the ISRU multi-faceted program, and plans for continued ground development and flight missions to reduce the risk of full ISRU implementation.

In situ resource utilization↗

Looking at the architecture

Architectural and systems-engineering considerations and tradeoffs are primary design-drivers in Martian and lunar missions, entailing studies of such fundamental choices as the use of rapid trajectories in the course of which crews live in zero-g or slower trajectories in which crews are subjected to artificial gravity. The best use of transportation way-points, the integration of launch vehicles with spacecraft of various configurations, and the incorporation of such advanced concepts as solar sail propulsion, are additional considerations to be studied. The planning of lunar and Martian missions must always take into account the extent to which local resources can diminish earth-supplied logistics requirements.

Bekey, Ivan↗

Challenges and Benefits of Excavation and Construction on the Moon

This presentation covers some of the challenges and benefits to excavation and construction on the Moon. Challenges include the lunar surface environment, materials that can survive in the lunar environment, the materials available in-situ to utilize, as well as the technology development that must occur to enable lunar excavation and construction. There are numerous benefits to excavation and construction on the Moon, including cost effectiveness and sustainable logistics.

excavation↗

Imperfect fractional crystallization of the lunar magma ocean and formation of the lunar mantle: A realistic chemical approach

It is generally considered that lunar mare basalts were generated by the melting of a cumulate mantle formed in an early Moon-wide magma ocean or magmasphere. However, the nature and chemistry of this cumulate mantle and the logistics of its origin have remained elusive. Extensive studies of terrestrial layered mafic intrusions over the past sixty years have emphasized the imperfection of fractional crystallization and attendant crystal-crystal and crystal-liquid separation in a convecting magma chamber. These separations were similarly inefficient during evolution of the lunar magmasphere, allowing for the trapping of interstitial melt and entrainment of a small proportion of less-dense plagioclase into the more-dense mafic cumulate mush. Indeed, petrography of lunar highlands samples demonstrates this well for anorthosites (with 1-10 percent olivine). Therefore, we propose a 'realistic' model for the evolution of the lunar mantle, which takes these observations into consideration, by the imperfect fractional crystallization of an early lunar magma ocean.

Snyder, Gregory A.↗

Overview of the Lunar Transit Trajectory Performed by the Power and Propulsion Element of NASA’s Gateway

NASA has committed to returning to the moon, landing the first woman and the next man on its surface. To support a sustained lunar presence, NASA is designing an orbital platform to be assembled in an orbit near the moon called the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO). This platform is known as the Gateway and its purpose it to support missions primarily to the lunar south pole. As NASA continues to study ways to reduce the cost of lunar exploration, a simplification implemented in 2020combinedthe first two elements of the Gateway, the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and NASA’s Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), onto a single commercial launch vehicle (CLV). When launched together, the PPE and HALO make up the first two elements of NASA’s Gateway and exceed the performance capacity of commercially available launch vehicles to deliver directly to the moon. The delivery of the Gateway is enabled by and takes advantage of the high efficiency of the PPEs high-power Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) system to transfer a significant starting mass from an initial Earth orbit to final insertion into the NRHO. The PPE is a 50-kW class high power solar electric propulsion stage comprised of two different types of electric thruster strings. The SEP system is operated in two different modes, a high thrust and high Isp (specific impulse), to both maximize the final delivered mass and attempt to minimize the time spent in the Van Allen Belts early in the transit trajectory. Additionally, this SEP system brings the capability to the assembled Gateway for transfer between orbits in cislunar space. This paper captures the preliminary low thrust lunar transfer reference trajectory to be flown by the PPE it delivers itself and HALO via a spiral trajectory from launch vehicle insertion to insertion into the NRHO as well as a preliminary reference round trip transfer of the Gateway from the NRHO to a Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) using the PPE. Once in its final NRHO, the Gateway is being designed to enable long duration human and robotic exploration of the lunar south pole as a precursor to Mars. The Gateway’s low thrust lunar transit trajectory is envisioned to prove out the application of and flight of a high-power SEP system as a demonstration of technologies applicable to the enabling of future human space exploration.

human exploration↗

Cloud Computing Methods for Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit Trajectory Design

Complicated mission design problems require innovative computational solutions. As spacecraft depart from a proposed Gateway in a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO), recontact analysis is required to avoid risk of collision and ensure safe operations. Escape dynamics from NRHOs are governed by multiple gravitational bodies, yielding a trajectory design space that is exhaustively large. This paper summarizes the recontact analysis for departure from the NRHO and describes how the Deep Space Trajectory Explorer (DSTE) trajectory design software incorporates high performance cloud computing to compute and visualize the orbit design space. Recent focus on exploration missions to cislunar space has kindled accelerated interest in multibody orbit solutions. Trajectory analysis in the presence of multiple gravity fields is complex, and innovative computational tools are needed to simplify complicated design spaces, to generate large quantities of data quickly, and to visualize the output for user accessibility. The Gateway mission is a prime example. The Gateway1 is proposed as a human outpost in deep space. The current baseline orbit for the Gateway is a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) near the Moon.2 The NRHO exists in a regime that experiences the gravitational effects of the Earth and the Moon simultaneously, complicating orbit analysis. The mission design process benefits greatly from updated computational tools for multibody missions like the Gateway. As an example, consider the problem of assessing the risk of collision in an NRHO. As a staging location to missions to the lunar surface and beyond the Earth-Moon system, the Gateway will experience spacecraft and other objects regularly arriving and departing. Departing objects potentially include spent logistics modules, visiting crew vehicles, debris objects, wastewater particles, and cubesats. Each departure is governed by the dynamics of the Gateway orbit and the surrounding dynamical environment. Over time, any unmaintained object in such an orbit eventually departs due to the small instabilities associated with the NRHOs. A separation maneuver speeds the departure from the NRHO, but the effects of the maneuver on the spacecraft behavior depend on the location, magnitude, and direction of the burn. Escape dynamics from the NRHO with regard to these maneuver options open up an enormous potential trajectory design space where subtle changes in input can produce dramatically large changes in the results. Any departing object must avoid recontacting the Gateway as it leaves the lunar vicinity, and a recontact analysis thus involves a significant number of computations and extensive output data. To explore the dynamics of this extensive design space, the Deep Space Trajectory Explorer3 (DSTE) trajectory design software incorporates new High Performance Computing (HPC) services and novel interactive visualizations. This paper details the HPC and cloud infrastructure techniques that are implemented in the DSTE, applying the new capabilities to analysis of recontact risk with the Gateway in NRHO. NEAR RECTILINEAR HALO ORBITS The Gateway is planned to fly in a lunar NRHO as its baseline orbit. The NRHO families of orbits are subsets of the larger halo families, which originate from planar orbits near the L1 and L2 libration points; the Earth-Moon L2 halo family appears in Figure 1. Each halo orbit is perfectly periodic in the Circular Restricted 3-Body Problem (CR3BP) and becomes a quasi-periodic orbit in a higher fidelity ephemeris force model. The NRHOs are defined as those members of the halo family with bounded stability properties;2 they pass near the Moon at perilune and are nearly polar. Families exist with apolunes located both above the lunar north pole and above the lunar south pole; the Gateway is planned to reside in a southern L2 NRHO in a 9:2 resonance with the lunar synodic period. The 9:2 NRHO is characterized by a period of about 6.5 days, a perilune radius of about 3,500 km, and an apolune radius of about 71,000 km; it is strongly affected by the gravity of both the Earth and the Moon simultaneously. This NRHO offers extended communications with assets on the south pole of the Moon,4 as well as low-cost orbit maintenance and attitude control,5 favorable eclipse avoidance properties,6 and inexpensive transfers from Earth and to other destinations.5,7 The NRHO portion of the southern L2 halo family is highlighted in black in Figure 1, and the 9:2 NRHO appears in blue.

Phillips, Sean M.↗

Overview of the Lunar Transfer Trajectory of the Co-Manifested First Elements of NASA’s Gateway

This paper documents the current design reference mission planned for the first two elements of NASA’s Gateway. When launched together, the Power and Propulsion Element and Habitation and Logistics Outpost comprise the Co-Manifested Vehicle (CMV). The low-thrust transfer between the initial parking orbit and the final insertion into the operational Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit is described. While each specific trajectory depends on launch date, trends are iden-tified in the dynamics and orientation of the CMV as it traverses its spiral orbit. This paper describes the interplay between various assumptions and constraints on the development of the low thrust lunar transfer.

electric propulsion↗

Autonomous Cargo Management and Distribution for Surface Logistics

The BLiSS: Cargo Management and Retrieval project is a submission to the NASA X-Hab challenge for an autonomous system of cargo storage and retrieval for use on the Lunar Gateway system. The system is designed to stow 5 tonnes of cargo within a capsule that has an internal diameter of 3.2 meters and height of 6 meters for cargo that will be up to 0.8 meters in any one dimension. The system will inventory all cargo items placed in each cargo container and then track the containers using RFID chips for autonomous stowage and retrieval upon request by on-station crew.

Luke McFarling↗

Impact Cratering: Bridging the Gap Between Modeling and Observations

This volume contains abstracts that have been accepted for presentation at the workshop on Impact Cratering: Bridging the Gap Between Modeling and Observations, February 7-9, 2003, in Houston, Texas. Logistics, onsite administration, and publications for this workshop were provided by the staff of the Publications and Program Services Department at the Lunar and Planetary Institute.

Source record↗

Antarctic Exploration Parallels for Future Human Planetary Exploration: The Role and Utility of Long Range, Long Duration Traverses

Topics covered include: Antarctic Exploration Parallels for Future Human Planetary Exploration: Science Operations Lessons Learned, Planning, and Equipment Capabilities for Long Range, Long Duration Traverses; Parallels Between Antarctic Travel in 1950 and Planetary Travel in 2050 (to Accompany Notes on "The Norwegian British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition 1949-52"); My IGY in Antarctica; Short Trips and a Traverse; Geologic Traverse Planning for Apollo Missions; Desert Research and Technology Studies (DRATS) Traverse Planning; Science Traverses in the Canadian High Arctic; NOR-USA Scientific Traverse of East Antarctica: Science and Logistics on a Three-Month Expedition Across Antarctica's Farthest Frontier; A Notional Example of Understanding Human Exploration Traverses on the Lunar Surface; and The Princess Elisabeth Station.

Hoffman, Stephen J.↗

Overview of the Lunar Transfer Trajectory of the Co-Manifested First Elements of NASA’s Gateway

This paper documents the current design reference mission planned for the first two elements of NASA’s Gateway. When launched together, the Power and Pro-pulsion Element and Habitation and Logistics Outpost comprise the Co-Manifested Vehicle (CMV).1The low-thrust transfer between the initial parking orbit and the final insertion into the operational Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit is described. While each specific trajectory depends on launch date, trends are identified in the dynamics and orientation of the CMV as it traverses its spiral orbit. This paper describes the interplay between various assumptions and constraints on the development of the low thrust lunar transfer.

low thrust↗