Lunar frozen orbits revisited

Nie, Tao; Gurfil, Pini

doi:10.1007/s10569-018-9858-0

Cited by 41 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Alternatively, in some applications, such as is in solar system dynamics, it is su cient to discard terms in the disturbing potential that are dependent on the fast variable [14]. The equilibria of these averaged equations, under various perturbative environments, have attracted a lot of attention in the design of Earth-satellite [17,18,28], planetary satellite, and small-body orbiter missions [46,57]. In near-Earth space, where the dominant perturbations arise from planetary oblateness, the existence of frozen orbits is attributed to the dynamical balancing of the secular e↵ects of the even zonal harmonics with the long-periodic perturbations of the odd zonal harmonics [18].…”

Section: Frozen Orbits and The Minimum Space Occupancy (Miso)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing and minimizing collisions in satellite mega-constellations

Reiland

Rosengren

Malhotra

et al. 2021

Advances in Space Research

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Section: Frozen Orbits and The Minimum Space Occupancy (Miso)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing and minimizing collisions in satellite mega-constellations

Reiland

Rosengren

Malhotra

et al. 2021

Advances in Space Research

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“…A few special LLOs are less affected by these mascons. These “frozen orbits” have “constant mean eccentricity, mean inclination and mean argument of perigee” [ 24 ], and provide multi-year stability requiring no corrective maneuvers [ 2 ]. Frozen orbits ensure a constant altitude while minimizing the station keeping propellant budget, and are thus favored for orbiting reconnaissance spacecraft [ 25 ].…”

Section: Flare Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Flexible Lunar Architecture for Exploration (FLARE) supporting NASA's Artemis Program

Evans

Graham

2020

Acta Astronautica

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The Flexible Lunar Architecture for Exploration (FLARE) is a concept to deliver four crew to the lunar surface for a minimum of seven days and then return them safely to Earth. FLARE can be implemented whenever the component vehicles are operational. FLARE was developed as an alternative to NASA's Human Landing System (HLS) reference architecture from the Design Analysis Cycle (DAC) #2 created in 2019. The DAC2 guidelines required utilization of the Gateway vehicle in a Near- Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO). Instead, FLARE chooses a Low Lunar Frozen Polar Orbit (LLFPO) for lunar rendezvous of components, and an optional Gateway vehicle. The LLFPO provides a stable orbit that overflies the south pole every 2 h, ensuring easy access to the lunar surface for surface aborts with a much lower propellant requirement than NRHO. The minimum FLARE concept uses one Space Launch System (SLS) launch, one Orion, one European Service Module (ESM), and one human lander (launched on commercial vehicle(s)). FLARE adds the SpaceTug, based upon the mature and successful ULA “Common” Centaur Upper Stage vehicle, with modifications to create an Earth-Moon transfer vehicle. In the FLARE baseline mission, the SpaceTug provides propulsion needed to return the Orion + ESM from LLFPO to Earth. The SpaceTug also provides propulsion to deliver the separate human lander components – the Descent Element (DE) and the Ascent Element (AE) - from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to LLFPO. The SLS Block 1 then launches the Orion + ESM and completes a rendezvous with the mated DE + AE components in LLFPO. FLARE offers optional phases beyond the baseline mission. The SpaceTug can deliver components of the planned Gateway, including the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and the Habitable and Logistics Outpost (HALO), to LLFPO. FLARE provides an option to deliver precursor equipment to the lunar surface to enhance and extend the human mission. With these components, including an inflatable habitation module and airlock, individual crew mobility vehicle(s), an In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) demonstration, and science and technology experiments, the crew can explore and conduct science on the lunar surface for up to 14 days.

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“…Second, we show that there is a significant variation (µ = 0.41, s =0.70) in the values of station-keeping DV, even though that all architectures are subject to the same frozen orbit constraints. This is likely due to the varying sensitivities of the satellite orbits to the eccentricity and inclination of the Earth's orbit -The Earth is the largest perturbation at an altitude higher than 1500km [6]-,which is modeled in the simulation but ignored in the derivation of the analytical equations. Third, the frozen orbit conditions impose a limitation on the orbit inclinations of around 40 deg at the altitude regimes that exhibit the best navigation performance.…”

Section: A Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Design Space of Lunar GNSS in Frozen Orbit Conditions

Pereira

Selva

2020

2020 IEEE/ION Position, Location and Navigation Symposium (PLANS)

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We have witnessed a growing interest in lunar exploration missions in the last few years, with the announcement of NASA's Deep Space Gateway, the launch of several uncrewed missions and the involvement of private companies. However, there is currently no reliable means of accurate and instantaneous navigation in the vicinity of the Moon. This poses operational limitations on the autonomy of lunar robotic and small satellite missions. We present the preliminary results of a systems architecture study conducted on a new satellite navigation system orbiting the moon that would effectively extend the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) space service volume to cislunar space. A constraint to lunar frozen orbit conditions under J2, C22 and third-body perturbations is added to achieve stable lunar orbits and the formulation includes the following design decisions: (1) Orbit semi-major axis, (2) Number of satellites, (3) Number of orbital planes, (4) Satellite phasing in adjacent planes, (5) Orbit eccentricity and (6) Argument of periapsis. The Borg Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm (MOEA) is used to optimize the satellite constellation design using multiple crossover and mutation operators that can adaptively be selected at runtime. The fitness function takes into account performance, cost, availability and station-keeping delta-V. The performance metric assessment is based on the Geometric Dilution of Precision (GDOP), which is computed over a grid of 500 equidistant points on the lunar surface. The input satellite orbits used in the GDOP computation are obtained from high-fidelity orbit propagation using NASA's General Mission Analysis Toolbox. The space segment cost model considers satellite constellation development and production costs. Single satellite costs are based on satellite dry mass estimates derived from the power budget analysis assuming a satellite lifetime of 10 years. The results show that high-performing Lunar GNSS constellation relying on frozen orbits alone can be achieved with 20 satellites but be suboptimal for high-latitude regions.

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Lunar frozen orbits revisited

Cited by 41 publications

References 30 publications

Assessing and minimizing collisions in satellite mega-constellations

Assessing and minimizing collisions in satellite mega-constellations

A Flexible Lunar Architecture for Exploration (FLARE) supporting NASA's Artemis Program

Exploring the Design Space of Lunar GNSS in Frozen Orbit Conditions

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