Session
Session X: Space Access - Enterprise
Location
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Abstract
Launch and delivery access to cislunar space is a unique challenge that has received increased interest in recent years for a variety of mission applications. Beginning with the CAPSTONE mission and followed by Artemis I CubeSat rideshares, iSpace, Intuitive Machines, KARI, and CLPS landers, launches to cislunar space have increased dramatically. With launches increasing and other expected missions deploying to this valuable domain, evaluations of efficient and sustainable launch approaches are highly relevant to future operations. Launching to cislunar space utilizing the benefit of third-body perturbations from the Sun and Moon has been demonstrated by multiple missions including the ARTEMIS mission, GRAIL, CAPSTONE, iSpace, and KARI, to name a few. These multi-body orbits are referred to herein as “novel orbits” due to their lack of traditional Keplerian behavior.
There are many benefits to multi-body approaches when accessing cislunar space. One enticing opportunity is to use a single rideshare launch to deploy one mission to cislunar space and a second mission to geosynchronous orbit (GEO), seemingly very different orbital regimes. This increased utility provides mission planners and launch providers with several unique benefits that enhance the overall resilience of launch to both regions of space. This approach is more efficient because it uses new higher-performing launch vehicle options to inject payloads with less fuel to access lunar orbits, offering a 25% reduction compared to direct TLI; a 70+% reduction for Earth-Moon three-body orbits such as Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) compared to direct transfers; and a 30% reduction to GEO itself. This approach also provides a benefit in that missions can relocate to accommodate congested launch sites by providing access to cislunar and GEO from any site such as high latitude or high inclination launch sites.
Using the novel-orbit approach to perform rideshare delivery of multiple payloads to cislunar and GEO orbits offers optimized ride-share for a variety of mission needs. The approach yields daily launch opportunities to accommodate various potential schedule delays due to systems and environmental uncertainties (i.e., weather). This benefit is important when comparing with other launch schemes to cislunar, notably direct launches, which have far more constrained launch period/window options. A final benefit of this approach compared to phasing orbits or electric propulsion orbit raising is that using novel orbits for resilient launch reduces the radiation exposure of space vehicles from trapped radiation in the Earth’s magnetic field, which can be a significant contributor to the total dose spacecraft must be designed to tolerate.
Advanced Space has been maturing this capability for over a decade and has demonstrated its utility for cislunar injection on the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE™) mission. This paper and presentation will provide the technical details on the approach, lessons learned, and key performance parameters for future mission architects to consider when implementing cislunar and GEO missions that can leverage this multi-mission flexible approach for both primary payload and Rideshare missions.
Document Type
Event
Novel Orbits for Resilient Launch – Enabling the Optimization of Rideshare Options to Cislunar and GEO Destinations
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Launch and delivery access to cislunar space is a unique challenge that has received increased interest in recent years for a variety of mission applications. Beginning with the CAPSTONE mission and followed by Artemis I CubeSat rideshares, iSpace, Intuitive Machines, KARI, and CLPS landers, launches to cislunar space have increased dramatically. With launches increasing and other expected missions deploying to this valuable domain, evaluations of efficient and sustainable launch approaches are highly relevant to future operations. Launching to cislunar space utilizing the benefit of third-body perturbations from the Sun and Moon has been demonstrated by multiple missions including the ARTEMIS mission, GRAIL, CAPSTONE, iSpace, and KARI, to name a few. These multi-body orbits are referred to herein as “novel orbits” due to their lack of traditional Keplerian behavior.
There are many benefits to multi-body approaches when accessing cislunar space. One enticing opportunity is to use a single rideshare launch to deploy one mission to cislunar space and a second mission to geosynchronous orbit (GEO), seemingly very different orbital regimes. This increased utility provides mission planners and launch providers with several unique benefits that enhance the overall resilience of launch to both regions of space. This approach is more efficient because it uses new higher-performing launch vehicle options to inject payloads with less fuel to access lunar orbits, offering a 25% reduction compared to direct TLI; a 70+% reduction for Earth-Moon three-body orbits such as Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) compared to direct transfers; and a 30% reduction to GEO itself. This approach also provides a benefit in that missions can relocate to accommodate congested launch sites by providing access to cislunar and GEO from any site such as high latitude or high inclination launch sites.
Using the novel-orbit approach to perform rideshare delivery of multiple payloads to cislunar and GEO orbits offers optimized ride-share for a variety of mission needs. The approach yields daily launch opportunities to accommodate various potential schedule delays due to systems and environmental uncertainties (i.e., weather). This benefit is important when comparing with other launch schemes to cislunar, notably direct launches, which have far more constrained launch period/window options. A final benefit of this approach compared to phasing orbits or electric propulsion orbit raising is that using novel orbits for resilient launch reduces the radiation exposure of space vehicles from trapped radiation in the Earth’s magnetic field, which can be a significant contributor to the total dose spacecraft must be designed to tolerate.
Advanced Space has been maturing this capability for over a decade and has demonstrated its utility for cislunar injection on the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE™) mission. This paper and presentation will provide the technical details on the approach, lessons learned, and key performance parameters for future mission architects to consider when implementing cislunar and GEO missions that can leverage this multi-mission flexible approach for both primary payload and Rideshare missions.
