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  • Complete Lunar Exploration Coverage Analysis

    Paper number

    IAC-09.A3.2INT.17

    Author

    Dr. Kar-Ming Cheung, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States

    Coauthor

    Dr. Charles Lee, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States

    Year

    2009

    Abstract
    NASA’s Vision for Space Exploration is to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon beginning no later than 2020. It is essential to provide an architecture that is ex¬pandable and evolvable to meet the current and future communication requirements for Constellation’s International Space Station missions and lunar missions. This architecture includes the existing NASA ground-based and Earth-orbiting networks, as well as a possible network of lunar relay satellites. A key metric for decisions in selecting or expanding the communication infrastructure is its coverage capability. This article provides detailed cover¬age analysis for various phases of a lunar exploration mission, including the launches of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and the Lunar Surface Access Module/Earth Departure Stage (LSAM/EDS), their low-Earth-orbiting operations and docking; the trans-lunar inser¬tion of the CEV/LSAM stack, its lunar orbiting insertion and low-lunar-orbiting operations; and the LSAM descent/ascent operations, as well as the Earth return phase. The human outpost of lunar exploration is assumed to be at the lunar south pole; the top 10 landing sites suggested by NASA’s Exploration Systems Architecture Study for lunar sortie missions are also considered. Surface-to-surface, Earth, and solar coverage at the lunar South Pole using Goldstone Solar System Radar terrain data are also analyzed and discussed.
    
    
    Abstract document

    IAC-09.A3.2INT.17.pdf

    Manuscript document

    IAC-09.A3.2INT.17.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

    To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.