Questions tagged [halo-orbit]

Questions regarding co-orbital orbits in a three body system.

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Why are eclipses of the James Webb by the Earth or Moon not permitted during the mission?

Why are eclipses of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWT) by the Earth or Moon not permitted during the mission? In Seasonal variations of the James Webb Space Telescope orbital dynamics it is stated ...
Woody's user avatar
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James Webb telescope; limits to propellant lifetime?

There is a comprehensive article on Wikipedia on the James Webb telescope. It includes a statement regarding the operational lifetime being nominally five years and optimistically ten years. However ...
Roger Wood's user avatar
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Is this what station keeping maneuvers look like, or just glitches in data? (SOHO via Horizons)

I've been enjoying the JPL Horizons web interface and after I discovered the incredibly extensive database associated with SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, also see sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov) ...
uhoh's user avatar
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What happens to JWST after it runs out of propellant?

JWST will be orbiting L2 which is unstable equilibrium thus will require propellant for station keeping. JWST will carry propellant for 5-10 years. What will happen once it runs out of propellant? ...
daniel.sedlacek's user avatar
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Could JWST stay at L2 "forever"?

Using only reaction wheels powered by solar panel and the sunshield as a sail (in continuous active attitude control) to generate thrust from solar photon pressure in the desired direction, could JWST ...
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What is a near rectilinear halo orbit?

A proposed option for the lunar orbit of a Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (formerly known as Deep Space Gateway) is a near rectilinear halo orbit, or NRHO. This excellent answer discusses the ...
uhoh's user avatar
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Can the James Webb Space Telescope basically manage its own orbit if necessary?

In this great answer I learned that the Mars rover Curiosity can be given some tasks and it will go ahead and manage the work and navigation by itself, to at least a certain limit. The James Webb ...
uhoh's user avatar
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How to best think of the State Transition Matrix, and how to use it to find periodic Halo orbits?

I'll state my mathematical question about the state propagation and state transition matrices first, then show you a simple problem for which I would like to use these concepts to generate a densely ...
uhoh's user avatar
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What sort of orbital elements are used to describe halo orbits?

For standard orbits we can use Keplerian elements, TLE, or other similar. These don't make much sense for Halo orbits, which are not around a central body, but around a Lagrangian point, and follow an ...
SF.'s user avatar
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Why is a near rectilinear halo orbit proposed for LOP-G (formerly known as Deep Space Gateway?)

Why is a near rectilinear halo orbit a good place for a Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (formerly known as Deep Space Gateway)? Are there specific logistical and orbital-mechanical advantages over ...
uhoh's user avatar
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Are large halo orbits around L₁'s and L₂'s preferred over small orbits for reasons other than geometry?

There have been many examples of the placement of satellites in orbits around Lagrange points, most have been sun-earth and earth-moon $L_1$ and $L_2$ due to their proximity to earth. In each case ...
uhoh's user avatar
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Why aren't energy and momentum (of a restricted three-body system) conserved, or are they?

The question Is the Jacobi constant stationary along a periodic orbit? lead me to Wikipedia's Jacobi integral, which begins: In celestial mechanics, Jacobi's integral (also known as the Jacobi ...
uhoh's user avatar
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How well is JWST doing on maintaining its Halo orbit?

I looked around a little bit online but did not find anything discussing how well JWST is doing with managing its orbit. I was wondering if there were any surprises or issues. It's been out there ...
BradV's user avatar
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What is the difference between halo orbits and Lissajous orbits?

The Wikipedia articles for halo orbit and Lissajous orbit leave me wondering how these two orbits are different from an orbital mechanical point of view. Could they be discussed together here, so I ...
uhoh's user avatar
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The design of the halo orbit of the James Webb Space Telescope

As I feel a little less uncomfortable with "halo" orbits, with this question, I would like to explore the practical aspects, in particular those related to the design of the James Webb Space ...
Ng Ph's user avatar
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9 votes
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How would you identify when an object in a Lissajous orbit needs station keeping?

Obviously, with the international space station you need to do some station keeping when you're falling into the atmosphere. However, I saw the following image showing the Halo orbit that the Deep ...
Magic Octopus Urn's user avatar
8 votes
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Why shouldn't we illustrate spacecraft trajectories on top of static zero velocity pseudo-potential surfaces?

Three-body spacecraft orbits1 are regularly discussed here and from time to time someone will include a pseudo-potential plot from Wikipedia in their explanation. The discussion often goes south when ...
uhoh's user avatar
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How does a butterfly orbit move in 3D? Way to generate or visualize?

The paper Earth-Moon Near Rectilinear Halo and Butterfly Orbits for Lunar Surface Exploration (AAS 18-406) says Periodic Orbits in the Earth-Moon System The current investigation focuses on three ...
uhoh's user avatar
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What is the physical interpretation of the eigenvalues of the monodromy matrix and how are they associated with the invariant manifolds?

To define the monodromy matrix, assume that the period for one cycle of a halo orbit is denoted as $T$, the initial time as $t_0$, and the state-transition matrix is defined as $\phi$. Then, the ...
John's user avatar
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Thrown-together $200 million mission to asteroid 2020 SO; check out or nudge to longer-lasting mini-moon orbit

This tweet says in part: Earth's potential new minimoon, 2020 SO may be the Surveyor 2 Centaur rocket body, launched in September 1966. Integrating backwards shows 2020 SO2 to also be orbiting Earth ...
uhoh's user avatar
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What is the required burn to keep a satellite at a Lagrangian point?

When a satellite reaches a Lagrangian point, it has a non-zero velocity $v_1$ because of the transfer orbit in which it had already been. What burn, say, $\Delta v$, one needs if the satellite is ...
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3 answers
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Does Kerbal Space Program have a software migration path to Lagrange points, halo orbits, and other 3-body goodies?

At about 05:37 in Scott Manley video Kerbal Space Program 2 - What We Know About The Sequel So I’m cautiously optimistic and I really obviously want this to be ...
uhoh's user avatar
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How frequent are (or will be) JWST station keeping burns at L2?

Does anyone have solid information regarding the scheduled/anticipated station keeping burns for JWST at L2? In an online video I've heard mention of 'every 21 days' which at first look seems ...
BradV's user avatar
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JWST Halo Orbits for Dummies: can halo orbits be usefully approximated by Simple Harmonic Motion?

Halo Orbits for Dummies: can halo orbits be usefully approximated by Simple Harmonic Motion? I am an undergraduate in the Kerbal Academy of Astrodynamics. Patched conics have given me an intuitive ...
Woody's user avatar
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Is there a fairly detailed outline of CAPSTONE's "highly efficient ballistic lunar transfer trajectory" from LEO to lunar near-rectilinear halo orbit?

NASA Ames's feature CAPSTONE’s CubeSat Prepares for Lunar Flight says CAPSTONE will use a hydrazine-fueled propulsion system during most of its three- to four- month journey to the Moon. This line of ...
uhoh's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
359 views

Is the Gateway's halo orbit bound to Earth? Would the Gateway remain in Earth orbit if the Moon disappeared?

Discussion below this answer involves my feeling that calling halo orbits in very asymmetric systems (e.g. Sun-Earth or Earth-Moon) as orbits around the primary, in 1:1 resonance with the secondary. ...
uhoh's user avatar
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6 votes
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467 views

Why put DSCOVR in a Lissajous orbit? Wouldn't a halo orbit completely avoid the Sun exclusion zone?

Halo orbits are a sub-class of Lissajous orbits. See this answer for (much) more on that. DSCOVR's orbit will put it in it's Sun Exclusion Zone in about 2020 where the communications line of sight ...
uhoh's user avatar
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Would it be practical to position a telescope like JWST at Sun-Earth L4 or L5?

During a discussion of Lagrange points I was asked why we didn't put JWST at SE L4 or L5 since they are less unstable than L2. I thought a bit and came to think that the Earth gravity driven Halo ...
BradV's user avatar
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Why put X-ray telescope Spektr-RG/eROSITA all the way out at Sun-Earth L2?

Per Wikipedia's Spektr-RG; Mission profile and orbit: Mission profile and orbit The spacecraft will enter an orbit around the Sun, at the L2 Lagrangian point, about 1.5 million kilometers away from ...
uhoh's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
798 views

What is the period of halo/Lissajous orbits?

Does the orbital period of halo/Lissajous orbits around L1/2 points increase, decrease or stay the same when increasing the (average) orbital radius? A function period(radius,m1,m2) would be cool, ...
darsie's user avatar
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Planet Orbit "swept Area" Vs halo orbit "swept area"

After plotting the JWST halo orbit to a flat plane, and finding that the halo appears to closely approximate an ellipse (yes, the halo has some 'potato chip' warping) I began to wonder. A planetary ...
BradV's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
164 views

Is the JWST halo orbit period sync'd with earth's elliptical orbit about sun?

I was looking at the JWST halo and wondering if getting the halo orbit phased with earths elliptical orbit would be a way of keeping gravitational variations regular and periodic so that station ...
BradV's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
336 views

Can L3 have halo orbits?

I've recently said you see one co-linear libration point, you seen 'em all. That's what I always say and while halo and other orbits associated with Sun-Earth L1 and L2 work similarly, L3 is 2 AU ...
uhoh's user avatar
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5 votes
0 answers
164 views

Are L1 and L2 orbital periods always half the orbital period of the massive bodies?

Are L1 and L2 libration point orbital periods always half the orbital period of the massive bodies? The halo orbital period of JWST is a half a year. https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/orbit.html The ...
Woody's user avatar
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5 votes
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Is JWST actually in a Lissajous orbit? What will it look like? Implications for station-keeping?

Note: for lots of great background related to this question, see lagrangian points - The design of the halo orbit of the James Webb Space Telescope - Space Exploration Stack Exchange There are ...
nealmcb's user avatar
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551 views

Are there some three-body orbits that can't be escaped? Can we know without propagating forever?

update: Searching for "choreographies" I found this Physics SE question which is related but different because it asks only if periodic solutions can be proven to be periodic numerically and my ...
uhoh's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
257 views

Does anyone here have a recognized definition of North, South, Class1, Class2 Halo orbits?

Question: What makes a halo orbit North or South, Class 1 or 2 In going thru various sites and papers I've come across lots of discussion of halo orbits being Northern, Southern, Class 1, Class 2. but ...
BradV's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
338 views

Can mascons have Lagrange-like points? In principle? At the Moon?

Background Lagrange points are a mathematical consequence of the The Circular Restricted Three Body Problem (CR3BP or CRTBP); two massive bodies orbiting around their center of mass and a third ...
uhoh's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
882 views

How will JWST maintain its elliptical orbit around L2?

I understand that JWST will have a vertical elliptical orbit around L2, but what I don't understand is how the telescope will actually maintain an orbit if there is no body in L2 to actually orbit ...
Jesseseamans's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
275 views

Is this JWST Halo orbit plot fouled up somehow?

After looking at this plot and many others I've come to the conclusion that this plot does not represent current JWST halo orbit. If the plot is supposed to be of JWST halo... it disagrees with many ...
BradV's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
354 views

Could a radio telescope orbit Earth-Moon L2 so that it is in the Moon's radio shadow?

Chang'e 4, a Lunar orbiter and lander on the far side of the Moon, will put a relay satellite in a halo orbit around EML2 that also will do some low frequency radio astronomy. Since the Chang'e 4 ...
LocalFluff's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
222 views

Do Lagrange points still exist if there is significant radiation pressure on the third body from the first?

From this answer: To obtain the distance to L1, find the smallest value of $r$ such that $$\frac{M_2}{r_1^2} + \frac{M_1}{R^2} - \frac{r_1(M_1+M_2)}{R^3} - \frac{M_1}{(R-r_1)^2} = 0.$$ To obtain the ...
uhoh's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
376 views

Station-keeping delta-v per year for an Earth-Moon vanilla halo orbit?

This answer reminds us that an Earth-Moon L1 or L2 vanilla1 halo orbit remaining always visible to some patch on the Moon's surface requires station-keeping. Queqiao uses such an orbit having ...
uhoh's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
430 views

Do ("non-halo") Lissajous orbits have stable/unstable manifolds?

The question Did DSCOVR travel “along the stable manifold of its future SE L1 Halo orbit” to get there? is specific to DSCOVR's trajectory from Earth to its primarily heliocentric orbit near Sun-Earth ...
uhoh's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
226 views

What are "transcritical, pitchfork, period-doubling, torus, and subharmonic bifurcations" in the context of three-body orbits? (e.g. butterflies)

MattB's excellent and well-sourced answer to Where do the butterflies land on this bifurcation plot? (Earth-Moon three-body butterfly orbits) begins: I'm fairly certain that the butterfly family is ...
uhoh's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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Code to generate Sun-Earth L2 halo orbits for given epoch?

I am working on a GMAT script out of personal interest (not part of a job) that involves a spacecraft orbiting the Sun-Earth L2 point. I have found some orbital state vectors for the spacecraft that ...
kardalos's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
713 views

Rendezvouses in halo or lissajous orbits

If a spacecraft was in an EM-L2 halo/lissajous orbit, and another craft would was going to approach EM-L2 a few days later, could they rendezvous immediately or is there a limitation when the second ...
Bob516's user avatar
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3 votes
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How is the moon's orbital motion accounted for in determining the best observation platform/location for JWST at L2?

The moon's periodic motion would appear to impose a perturbation to the otherwise equilibrium state of the solar/earth L2 point.
JEH's user avatar
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Which two spacecraft have spent the longest times in libration point orbits? (Lagrange points, Halo, Lissajous, etc.)

Libration point orbit is a general term including halos, Lissajous', and a whole zoo of others associated with Lagrange points in three-body systems. Which two spacecraft has been in such an orbit ...
uhoh's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
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What orbital maneuver(s) did the SOHO have to execute for halo orbit insertion?

I started, but did not complete, Classical Mechanics as an undergraduate, decades ago so I will not understand a highly technical answer. I am writing a novel where an astronaut needs to execute HOI (...
Bob516's user avatar
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