Kira A's Senior Project Blog

Project Title: Moon Bound: Implementing orbit-raising maneuvers in the cislunar region for lunar orbital insertion BASIS Advisor: John Goodwin/ Akash Joseph Internship Location: Physical Science Department Embry-Riddle, Remote Onsite Mentor: Dr. Muhammad Omer Farooq, Associate Professor

Project Abstract

With public and private space agencies worldwide looking to return humans to the moon and establish a lunar surface habitat, a problem arises with successfully shipping the materials needed through space. To establish infrastructure of this scale on the lunar surface, an orbital trajectory through the cislunar region is required. The cislunar region is the domain of space bounded by geosynchronous orbit (GEO), approximately 35,786 kilometers (22,236 miles) from the surface of the Earth, and the orbit of the moon around the Earth. The difficulty with cislunar navigation lies in the complex interactions between the Earth and the moon’s gravities as well as the large amount of energy – fuel, and money – needed to propel a spacecraft from orbit around Earth to the moon. Through implementing an original algorithm in MATLAB for performing orbit-raising maneuvers and analyzing mission objectives and methods through the cislunar region, this mission aims to optimize cost through reduced fuel use and establish a viable method of transport within the cislunar region for future lunar missions. Additionally, the mission will plan to implement the proposed NASA Gateway lunar orbiting station for ease of load transfer to the lunar surface. A reliable and efficient method of getting cargo to the lunar space station will streamline the process of building a permanent lunar surface habitat in the near future and possibly expedite the development of infrastructure on other solar system bodies in the future.