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Questions tagged [lissajous-orbit]

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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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8 votes
3 answers
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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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Is a 2:1 "figure-eight" Lissajous orbit possible in the Circular Restricted Three Body Problem?

Was Queqiao in a halo or Lissajous orbit? Why do sources disagree? says Proper halo orbits have the same period for their in-plane oscillations and out of plane oscillations, so they are closed ...
uhoh's user avatar
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When will DSCOVR appear too close to the Sun for reliable downlinking?

DSCOVR is in a Lissajous orbit about the Sun-Earth L2 point. That the orbit is called Lissajous rather than halo means that it's periods of horizontal libration and vertical libration are not equal. ...
uhoh's user avatar
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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
3 votes
0 answers
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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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7 votes
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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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4 answers
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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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3 votes
1 answer
745 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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What was the speed (avg, min, or max) of ARTEMIS-P1 spacecraft as it orbited L1 and L2

If not specifically ARTEMIS-P1, then what is the average speed (or mins and maxs) of a spacecraft orbiting EM L1 and L2 in halo and Lissajous orbits? Are there varied orbital periods for those points?...
Bob516's user avatar
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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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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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2 votes
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Did DSCOVR travel "along the stable manifold of its future SE L1 Halo orbit" to get there?

I just wrote (and have since removed) the following paragraph in this answer to How many times do you have to circle the Earth to break orbit?: As can be heard in this video SpaceX's launch of the ...
uhoh's user avatar
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18 votes
1 answer
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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