Radiation Environments of the Earth-Moon and Earth/Moon-Sun Libration Points

Paper number

IAC-06-D5.2.06

Author

Dr. Joe Minow, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Marshall Space Flight Center, United States

Coauthor

Dr. David L. Edwards, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Marshall Space Flight Center, United States

Coauthor

Mr. William C. Blackwell, Jr., United States

Coauthor

Ms. Anne M. Diekmann, United States

Year

2006

Abstract

co-authors to be added
Libration points are attractive locations for spacecraft due to the minimal station keeping requirements at the first three unstable (L1, L2, and L3) points and no station keeping requirements at the last two stable (L4, L5) points.   Current spacecraft operating at the Sun-Earth L1 point include the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) and Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) while the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) is orbiting the Sun-Earth L2 point.  Future use of libration points include NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Constellation-X programs and the ESA Planck, Herschel, and Darwin spacecraft at the Sun-Earth L2 point, new generations of upstream solar wind and energetic particle monitors at the Sun-Earth L1 point, and potential lunar architecture support systems at the Earth-Moon L1 point or astronomical observatories at Earth-Moon L2.  Finally, missions have even been proposed to utilize the Sun-Earth L3, L4, and L5 points for multi-spacecraft heliospheric imaging missions.   

In comparison to harsh radiation environments in planetary radiation belts, the libration points are relatively benign locations for spacecraft operations.  However, the libration points are particularly attractive to the space astronomy community seeking environments uncontaminated by Earth’s thermal and electromagnetic radiation environments and spacecraft designs under consideration for libration point missions often include design features which make them particularly vulnerable to detrimental effects of the radiation and plasma environments including cryogenic operating temperatures, the use of thin sunshield, thermal control materials, and solar sail propulsion system materials, and low power electronic systems.  Attention to the space plasma and radiation environments is necessary to successfully design, deploy, and operate spacecraft at the libration points.   In this paper we will provide a survey of the relevant radiation and plasma environments at the Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon libration points and provide a status efforts under development at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center for characterizing and modeling the plasma and radiation environments for libration point missions.
 

Abstract document

IAC-06-D5.2.06.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-06-D5.2.06.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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