Research Highlights

摘要

The Lunar Gateway, a space station in lunar orbit, is a critical component of NASA's Artemis program [1,2]. This new outpost, although much smaller in size than the International Space Station, will host a science laboratory and living quarters for crews of four astronauts. Astronauts will be able to occupy it for up to 90 days at a time. Crewed flights to the Gateway are expected to use Orion and SLS, while other missions are expected to be conducted by commercial launch providers. The Lunar Gateway will be operating autonomously most of the time in its early years. It is planned to be deployed in a highly elliptical (3000-70000 km from poles) near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) around the Moon that would allow lunar expeditions from the Gateway to reach a low polar orbit with a delta-v of 730 m/s and a half a day of transit time. Minimal Orbital station-keeping would be required and the orbital inclination could be shifted. The total travel time would be about five days to and from Gateway.