Cislunar Transportation Research Articles

Jerome Pearson and Space Elevators

This paper discusses the contribution to space activities, specifically space elevators, by American aerospace engineer, Jerome Pearson. Following a brief introduction to placing objects in orbit via rocket and introducing a green alternative, the paper mentions two early pioneers of space elevators, followed by a short biography of a third — Jerome Pearson, who finally had his ideas published in 1975. His conceptual design for a space elevator is discussed in depth, together with his other ideas for lunar space elevators and his relationship with Arthur C. Clarke who was inspired by his work. A brief summary of what a space elevator is is included together with a summary of how advanced rockets and space elevators could work together to bring the anticipated massive tonnage requirements for future space projects to orbit and beyond. Keywords: Cis-lunar Transportation, Jerome Pearson, Rockets, Space Access, Space Elevator

Jerome Pearson and Space Elevators

This paper discusses the contribution to space activities, specifically space elevators, by American aerospace engineer, Jerome Pearson. Following a brief introduction to placing objects in orbit via rocket and introducing a green alternative, the paper mentions two early pioneers of space elevators, followed by a short biography of a third — Jerome Pearson, who finally had his ideas published in 1975. His conceptual design for a space elevator is discussed in depth, together with his other ideas for lunar space elevators and his relationship with Arthur C. Clarke who was inspired by his work. A brief summary of what a space elevator is is included together with a summary of how advanced rockets and space elevators could work together to bring the anticipated massive tonnage requirements for future space projects to orbit and beyond. Keywords: Cis-lunar Transportation, Jerome Pearson, Rockets, Space Access, Space Elevator

Business Case Study for the Cycler: A Circumlunar Vehicle for Development of Space Tourism and Lunar Infrastructure by 2030

Cislunar space tourism is still a futuristic concept. However, the thrill and innovation that it offers has the potential to attract the attention of High-Net-Worth Individuals. As a result, developing regular tourist-focused cislunar transportation could be an opportunity for space entrepreneurs. Moreover, once established, cyclic lunar transportation might be a factor that could improve lunar business and infrastructure such as those considered for Moon Village. Today, the commercial development of cislunar vehicles is limited by costs and long duration research and development programs, while, the commercial benefits of a reliable transportation system of crew, tools, materials, and supplies are not fully understood. Consequently, the authors present the commercial viability of a cislunar space tourism vehicle utilizing the cycler concept. This article presents a business case for such a cislunar transportation vehicle and a related portfolio of services that might be realized by 2030. The business case expands previous studies on the Cycler concept proposed by Bombardier, Farr, and Peraldi in 2016. The commercial viability of this cislunar vehicle offers the opportunity for international collaboration as well as the potential for providing access to spaceflights for the space emerging nations. The cislunar space tourism Cycler is envisaged as a modular vehicle that will orbit the Earth and the Moon on a free return trajectory in a 7-day crewed journey (based on a study by Genova and Aldrin). The modular structure provides comfortable to premium travel conditions for 8 paying customers and 3 crew members as well as transporting goods using a cargo unit and a dedicated module to conduct scientific experiments. The article proposes a vehicle architecture using available components with the current Technical Readiness Levels of 6 or higher. This approach identifies technology gaps that need to be addressed to develop cislunar tourism and transportation and demonstrates the limited number of nations that are currently involved in developing these components. Furthermore, the article introduces a risk assessment of the envisaged civil cislunar transportation system, a dedicated financial modeling tool together with potential approach for financing the system through International public–private partnerships.

Near rectilinear halo orbits and nearby higher-period dynamical structures: orbital stability and resonance properties

Near rectilinear halo orbits (NRHOs), a subset of the $$L_1$$ and $$L_2$$ halo orbit families, are strong candidates for a future inhabited facility in line with the goals for NASA’s long-term cislunar transportation network. Higher-period dynamical structures that bifurcate from the NRHO region of the $$L_2$$ halo family offer additional insight into motion departing from or arriving into the vicinity. Characteristics of the NRHOs and the higher-period orbits, including stability and eclipse-avoidance properties, are presented and their persistence is verified in a higher-fidelity ephemeris model.

Impact analysis and adaptive sliding mode control for cislunar payload transportation using spinning tether system

PurposeThis paper aims to present the impact analysis of payload rendezvous with tethered satellite system and the design of an adaptive sliding mode controller which can deal with mass parameter uncertainty of targeted payload, so that the proposed cislunar transportation scheme with spinning tether system could be extended to a wider and more practical range.Design/methodology/approachIn this work, dynamical model is first derived based on Langrangian equations to describe the motion of a spinning tether system in an arbitrary Keplerian orbit, which takes the mass of spacecraft, tether and payload into account. Orbital design and optimal open-loop control for the payload tossed by the spinning tether system are then presented. The real payload rendezvous impact around docking point is also analyzed. Based on reference acceleration trajectory given by optimal theories, a sliding mode controller with saturation functions is designed in the close-loop control of payload tossing stage under initial disturbance caused by actual rendezvous error. To alleviate the influence of inaccurate/unknown payload mass parameters, the adaptive law is designed and integrated into sliding mode controller. Finally, the performance of the proposed controller is evaluated using simulations. Simulation results validate that proposed controller is found effective in driving the spinning tether system to carry payload into desired cislunar transfer orbit and in dealing with payload mass parameter uncertainty in a relatively large range.FindingsThe results show that unideal rendezvous manoeuvres have significant impact on in-plane motion of spinning tether system, and the proposed adaptive sliding mode controller with saturation functions not only guarantees the stability but also provides good performance and robustness against the parameter and unstructured uncertainties.Originality/valueThis work addresses the analysis of actual impact on spinning tether system motion when payload is docking with system within tolerated docking window, rather than at the particular ideal docking point, and the robust tracking control of deep-space payload tossing missions with the spinning tether system using the adaptive sliding mode controller dealing with parameter uncertainties. This combination has not been proposed before for tracking control of multivariable spinning tether systems.

A cislunar transportation system fueled by lunar resources

A transportation system for a self sustaining economy in cislunar space is discussed. The system is based on liquid oxygen (LO2), liquid hydrogen (LH2) propulsion whose fuels are derived from ice mined at the polar regions of the Moon. The elements of the transportation system consist of the Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage (ACES) and the XEUS lander, both being developed by United Launch Alliance (ULA). The main propulsion elements and structures are common between ACES and XEUS. Both stages are fully reusable with refueling of their LO2/LH2 propellants. Utilization of lunar sourced propellants has the potential to dramatically lower the cost of transportation within the cislunar environs. These lower costs dramatically lower the barriers to entry of a number of promising cislunar based activities including space solar power. One early application of the architecture is providing lunar sourced propellant to refuel ACES for traditional spacecraft deployment missions. The business case for this application provides an economic framework for a potential lunar water mining operation.

Production possibility frontiers for a cis-lunar transportation system

A cis-lunar transportation system (CLTS) can be designed to provide combinations of two services: lunar export and lunar import. The set of all such combinations is called the production possibility frontier (PPF), which in turn is a familiar concept from micro-economics. The CLTS envisioned operates flights between space stations in low Earth orbit (LEO) and low lunar orbit (LLO), and flights between LLO and lunar base (LB). A system of 28 equations is presented which models the interactions between structure, payload and propellants in the CLTS. The traffic ratio of LB-LLO-LB flights to LEO-LLO-LEO flights is determined to be a key parameter for achieving high lunar export/import ratios. It is also shown that the CLTS can achieve a significant net mass gain in LEO, thus creating the possibility of lunar exports generating revenues for the colony by competing on price in LEO with terrestrial exports.