Arcus Mission Design: Stable Lunar-Resonant High Earth Orbit for X-Ray Astronomy

Plice, Laura ; Dono Perez, Andres ; Policastri, Lisa ; Carrico, John ; Loucks, Mike

关键词: ASTROPHYSICS;    BACKGROUND RADIATION;    GALACTIC CLUSTERS;    LUNAR ORBITS;    MISSION PLANNING;    RADIATION BELTS;    RESONANCE;    TRAJECTORIES;    X RAY ASTRONOMY;    DATA ACQUISITION;    EARTH ORBITS;    LUNAR GRAVITATION;    PERIGEES;    X RAY SPECTROSCOPY;   

RP-ID  :  AAS 18-271,ARC-E-DAA-TN60130

学科分类：天体物理学

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来源: NASA Technical Reports Server

【 摘 要 】

The Arcus mission, proposed for NASA's 2016 Astrophysics Medium Explorer (MIDEX) announcement of opportunity, will use X-ray spectroscopy to detect previously unaccounted quantities of normal matter in the Universe. The Arcus mission design uses 4:1 lunar resonance to provide a stable orbit for visibility of widely-dispersed targets, in a low background radiation environment, above the Van Allen belts for the minimum two-year science mission. Additional ad-vantages of 4:1 resonance are long term stability without maintenance maneu-vers, eclipses under 4.5 hours, perigee radius approximately 12 Re for data download, and streamlined operational cadence with approximately 1 week orbit period.