Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “lunar libration orbit.”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2020

Low-energy Trajectories From Geosynchronous Transfer Orbits to Lunar Libration Orbits

The ability to reduce the cost of space missions beyond Earth orbit by leveraging innovative concepts is of great interest in the field of spaceflight. In this paper, the trajectory design for a mission from an inclined geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) to an Earth-Moon L2 Halo orbit is presented. The mission scenario for this investigation involves the use of a small satellite launched in a rideshare configuration and the use of a low-energy transfer to reach the target orbit. As a consequence of choosing a rideshare launch, the mission scenario entails critical uncertainties on the time of launch and injection parameters of the spacecraft, which could complicate the insertion into a low-energy transfer. Thus, the goal of the project is to develop a robust design methodology to deal with the launch uncertainties and assess launch readiness at any time of the year.

Wilson, Roby↗
NASA NTRS2009

ARTEMIS: The First Mission to the Lunar Libration Orbits

The ARTEMIS mission will be the first to navigate to and perform stationkeeping operations around the Earth-Moon L1 and L2 Lagrangian points. The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has previous mission experience flying in the Sun-Earth L1 (SOHO, ACE, WIND, ISEE-3) and L2 regimes (WMAP) and have maintained these spacecraft in libration point orbits by performing regular orbit stationkeeping maneuvers. The ARTEMIS mission will build on these experiences, but stationkeeping in Earth-Moon libration orbits presents new challenges since the libration point orbit period is on the order of two weeks rather than six months. As a result, stationkeeping maneuvers to maintain the Lissajous orbit will need to be performed frequently, and the orbit determination solutions between maneuvers will need to be quite accurate. The ARTEMIS mission is a collaborative effort between NASA GSFC, the University of California at Berkeley (UCB), and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The ARTEMIS mission is part of the THEMIS extended mission. ARTEMIS comprises two of the five THEMIS spacecraft that will be maneuvered from near-Earth orbits into lunar libration orbits using a sequence of designed orbital maneuvers and Moon & Earth gravity assists. In July 2009, a series of orbit-raising maneuvers began the proper orbit phasing of the two spacecraft for the first lunar flybys. Over subsequent months, additional propulsive maneuvers and gravity assists will be performed to move each spacecraft though the Sun-Earth weak stability regions and eventually into Earth-Moon libration point orbits. We will present the overall orbit designs for the two ARTEMIS spacecraft and provide analysis results of the 3/4-body dynamics, and the sensitivities of the trajectory design to both · maneuver errors and orbit determination errors. We will present results from the. initial orbit-raising maneuvers.

Woodward, Mark↗
NASA NTRS2011

ARTEMIS Mission Overview: From Concept to Operations

ARTEMIS (Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon's Interaction with the Sun) repurposed two spacecraft to extend their useful science (Angelopoulos, 2010) by moving them via lunar gravity assists from elliptical Earth orbits to L1 and L2 Earth-Moon libration orbits and then to lunar orbits by exploiting the Earth-Moon-Sun dynamical environment. This paper describes the complete design from conceptual plans using weak stability transfer options and lunar gravity assist to the implementation and operational support of the Earth-Moon libration and lunar orbits. The two spacecraft of the ARTEMIS mission will have just entered lunar orbit at this paper's presentation.

Folta, David↗
NASA NTRS1993

Control of libration point orbits using lunar gravity-assisted transfer

The Interplanetary Physics Laboratory, WIND, will be placed in a small-amplitude halo orbit in late 1995. A lunar swingby is used to achieve the halo orbit. Using the lunar swingby reduces the fuel required to achieve the desired orbit. The spacecraft's position and velocity with respect to the Moon near the time of swingby are shown to determine the characteristics of the halo orbit. The shape of the halo orbit, its x-, y-, and z-amplitudes, must be designed to meet mission constraints. A convenient set of parameters for displaying the dependence of the halo orbit's shape upon the lunar swingby is formulated. The use of the lunar swingby adds additional constraints to the trajectory in terms of attainable swingby parameters. Strategies for obtaining the desired swingby parameters in view of these mission constraints are discussed. The limits on attainable halo orbit shapes using the lunar swingby technique are discussed in terms of minimum and maximum x-, y-, and z-amplitudes. The relevance of previous work on this topic is discussed.

Sharer, P.↗
NASA NTRS2022

Astrodynamics Convention and Modeling Reference for Lunar, Cislunar, and Libration Point Orbits

The purpose and direction of this document is to provide U.S. government agencies, specifically National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Department of Defense (DoD) space related centers, with a foundational summary of astrodynamics concepts for trajectory design, navigation, and operations in the cislunar, lunar, and libration point regions. This document is provided in response to an Interagency Agreement (IAA) between NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). With applications to these regions of the Earth-Moon system, this document summarizes: the definitions of standard and unique coordinate systems for Positioning, Navigation, Timing and targeting (PNT), transformations between those coordinate frames, definitions of common time systems, a description of numerical integration, description of a widely-used and approximate dynamical model of a three-body system for preliminary analysis and nomenclature definition, description of higher-fidelity models of cislunar space, and the application of these concepts to sample scenarios with a focus on common steps in trajectory and maneuver design for a spacecraft in cislunar space. This information is critical to mission design and navigation far above the geosynchronous orbit region, where lunar perturbations are required to be modeled accurately and consistently but render trajectory design and analysis a complex procedure. Software tools such as the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) open source General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) is used as a reference, along with a wide variety of resources constructed by NASA and other government agencies, academia, and industry, for mathematical specifications and practical considerations. This document has been prepared by and under the auspices of NASA. The GSFC Mission Engineering and Systems Analysis (MESA) Division (Code 590) and the Navigation and Mission Design Branch (Code 595) are part of NASA. Their engineers and scientists have expertise in lunar, cislunar, and libration point region trajectory guidance and navigation and timing. NASA GSFC has supported many successful lunar and cislunar missions over the past several decades. These missions include the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), the two Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS) spacecraft, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), Lunar Prospector, Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), Clementine, and several Sun-Earth libration point missions such as WIND and Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), dating back four decades. NASA GSFC also supports the upcoming Gateway lunar mission, the Artemis Lunar Program and Human Landing Systems, and leads both the Lunar IceCube low thrust mission and concept design for the Lunar Communication Relay and Navigation System (LCRNS).

Lunar, CisLunar, Libration, trajectory dynamics, p↗
NASA NTRS2004

Lunar Navigation with Libration Point Orbiters and GPS

NASA is currently studying a Vision for Space Exploration based on spiral development of robotic and piloted missions to the moon and Mars, but research into how to perform such missions has continued ever since the first era of lunar exploration. One area of study that a number of researchers have pursued is libration point navigation and communication relay concepts. These concepts would appear to support many of NASA's current requirements for navigation and communications coverage for human and robotic spacecraft operating in lunar space and beyond. In trading libration point concepts against other options, designers must consider issues such as the number of spacecraft, required to provide coverage, insertion and stationkeeping costs, power and data rate requirements, frequency allocations, and many others. The libration points, along with a typical cis-lunar trajectory, are equilibrium locations for an infinitesimal mass in the rotating coordinate system that follows the motion of two massive bodies in circular orbits with respect to their common barycenter. There are three co-linear points along the line connecting the massive bodies: between the bodies, beyond the secondary body, and beyond the primary body. The relative distances of these points along the line connecting the bodies depend on the mass ratios. There are also two points that form equilateral triangles with the massive bodies. Ideally, motion in the neighborhood of the co-linear points is unstable, while motion near the equilibrium points is stable. However, in the real world, the motions are highly perturbed so that a satellite will require stationkeeping maneuvers.

Carpenter, J. Russell↗
NASA NTRS1973

Effects of physical librations of the moon on the orbital elements of a lunar satellite.

Physical librations of the moon are small cyclic perturbations with periods of one month and longer, and amplitudes of 100 arc seconds or less. This paper gives data on the magnitude of the physical librations, the geometrical effects on the orbital elements, and the equivalent changes in the coefficients in the gravitational potential. It is shown that geometrical effects can be accommodated either by using an inertial axes system or by compensating for the lunar librations and precession when the selenographic axes are used. Further, it is shown that physical effects are small and negligible for all but the most exacting endeavors.

Ferrari, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Navigating a Crewed Lunar Vehicle Using LiASION

This paper examines the benefits of navigating a crewed vehicle at the Moon using both ground tracking and satellite-to-satellite tracking, where the tracking satellite is stationed in a lunar halo orbit. Linked Autonomous Interplanetary Satellite Orbit Navigation (LiAISON) is a new technique that has been shown to dramatically improve the navigation of lunar satellites, libration orbiters, and Earth orbiting satellites using simple scalar satellite-to-satellite observations, such as range or Doppler. In this paper, LiAISON is applied to the problem of navigations a crewed vehicle in low lunar orbit. It has been found that adding LiAISON observations to a ground navigation solution improves the navigation enough to reduce the number of active ground tracking stations from six to three.

Linked Autonomous Interplanetary Satellite Orbit N↗
NASA NTRS2013

Supporting Crewed Lunar Exploration with LiAISON Navigation

This paper examines the benefits of navigating a crewed vehicle between the Earth and the Moon using both ground tracking and satellite-to-satellite tracking. Linked Autonomous Interplanetary Satellite Orbit Navigation (LiAISON) is a new technique that has been shown to dramatically improve the navigation of lunar satellites, libration orbiters, and Earth orbiting satellites using scalar intersatellite observations. In this paper, LiAISON is applied to the problem of navigating a crewed vehicle to the Moon. It has been found that LiAISON observations improve the navigation accuracy enough to reduce the number of active ground tracking stations from six to three.

low-energy↗
NASA NTRS1976

Lunar dynamics and selenodesy - Results from analysis of VLBI and laser data

Very long base line interferometry (VLBI) observations of lunar radio transmitters have been combined with data from laser ranging to lunar retroreflectors to estimate simultaneously (1) parameters in models of the lunar orbit and libration and (2) the selenodetic coordinates of the radio transmitters and retroreflectors. For the ratio of the mass of the sun to that of the earth plus moon, a value of approximately 328,900.5 is obtained. The lunar moment-of-inertia ratios beta and gamma are also determined. The values and most of the uncertainties obtained for the third-degree harmonics of the moon's gravity field are comparable to those which have been obtained by others from observations of lunar-orbiting spacecraft. However, the results for the two third-degree gravity coefficients have much less uncertainty than determinations based on laser data alone. For the relative position vectors of the lunar radio transmitters and the retroreflectors, the estimates have uncertainties of about 30 m along the earth-moon direction and about 10 m in each of the two transverse coordinates.

King, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Interplanetary Departure Stage Navigation by Means of Liaison Orbit Determination Architecture

Autonomous orbit determination for departure stages of interplanetary trajectories is conducted by means of realistic radiometric observations between the departing spacecraft and a satellite orbiting the first lunar libration point. Linked Autonomous Interplanetary Satellite Orbit Navigation (LiAISON) is used to estimate the orbit solution. This paper uses high-fidelity simulations to explore the utilization of LiAISON in providing improved accuracy for interplanetary departure missions. The use of autonomous navigation to supplement current techniques for interplanetary spacecraft is assessed using comparisons with groundbased navigation. Results from simulations including the Mars Science Laboratory, Mars Exploration Rover, and Cassini are presented. It is shown that observations from a dedicated LiAISON navigation satellite could be used to supplement ground-based measurements and significantly improve tracking performance.

interplanetary↗
NASA NTRS2013

Interplanetary Departure Stage Navigation by Means of Liaison Orbit Determination Architecture

Autonomous orbit determination for departure stages of interplanetary trajectories is conducted by means of realistic radiometric observations between the departing spacecraft and a satellite orbiting the first lunar libration point. Linked Autonomous Interplanetary Satellite Orbit Navigation (LiAISON) is used to estimate the orbit solution. This paper uses high-fidelity simulations to explore the utilization of LiAISON in providing improved accuracy for interplanetary departure missions. The use of autonomous navigation to supplement current techniques for interplanetary spacecraft is assessed using comparisons with groundbased navigation. Results from simulations including the Mars Science Laboratory, Mars Exploration Rover, and Cassini are presented. It is shown that observations from a dedicated LiAISON navigation satellite could be used to supplement ground-based measurements and significantly improve tracking performance.

Linked Autonomous Interplanetary Satellite Orbit N↗
NASA NTRS2012

Earth Orbit Raise Design for the ARTEMIS Mission

ARTEMIS is a mission to send two spacecraft from Earth orbit to libration orbits around the Moon Lagrange points and then into lunar orbit. Lunar flybys were used early in the mission to send the spacecraft into low-energy lunar transfers which were designed libration orbits for minimal deltaV. ARTEMIS began by raising the Earth orbits of each spacecraft to achieve the planned lunar flybys. Spacecraft conguration and operation constraints made the Earth orbit raise phase of the mission a signicant mission design challenge by itself. This paper describes the process used to and trajectories that achieved mission goals and the resulting series of Earth orbits that culminated in successful lunar flybys.

lunar transfer↗