10.2514/6.2024-0623">
 

Preliminary Analysis of Desirable Cislunar Orbits for Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) at the Lunar South Pole, Surface, and Earth-Moon Corridor

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

1-8-2024

Abstract

With the race to the moon starting anew in the 21st century, intensified mission assets are required to perform on the cis-lunar stage, including on the lunar surface and in cis-lunar space. As lunar missions grow in number and increase in complexity, the requirement for persistent position, navigation, and timing (PNT) capabilities become crucial. This paper proposes several lunar PNT architectures with constant coverage of the lunar South Pole, near constant coverage of the whole lunar surface, and coverage of the Earth-Moon corridor. Investigated in this research are orbits propagated in the Circular Restricted Three Body Problem (CR3BP) and Bi-Circular Restricted Four Body Problem (BCR4BP). Orbits investigated include the Halo Family and Distant Retrograde. Several orbits of favor are also discovered through Poincaré Mapping to include a 3:1 Resonant Orbit and an XGEO orbit. Further analysis such as positional dilution of precision, stability, visibility coverage, and PNT system power considerations is performed on these architectures to narrow options to the best fit. For South Pole coverage, an L2 Southern Halo Orbit is chosen for its constant coverage of the lunar south pole. For whole lunar surface coverage, two constellations of Halos and DROs tie for the chosen architecture. Both offer favorable outcomes depending on the mission. For Earth-Moon coverage, a 3:1 Resonant Orbit with a DRO and 2.5 XGEO orbit are considered the best option; however, a conclusion if Earth-Moon coverage is even probable due to its large expanse of space is proposed.

Comments

Session: Cislunar Astrodynamics, Missions, and Operations II

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Source Publication

AIAA SCITECH 2024 Forum

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