Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit Explained and Visualized

What people said

Recommends user12102 · 2019-06 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “How to use "patch points" to make a continuous halo orbit?”

update: I've found "patch points" mentioned throughout the following papers; it is likely that an answer can be found from these sources. Targeting Cislunar Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits for Human Space Exploration [LINK] Stationkeeping and Transfer Trajectory Design for Spacecraft in Cislunar Space [LINK] Multibody Orbit Architectures for Lunar South Pole Coverage [LINK] The excellent AI Solutions [LINK] video Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit Explained and Visualized [this video] illustrates what the orbit looks like, how it fits in to various families of halo orbits, and shows this interesting insight into how the orbit can be constructed mathematically. GIF Patch points from the circular restricted

Recommends user12102 · 2020-03 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “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 [LINK] (AAS 18-406) says Periodic Orbits in the Earth-Moon System The current investigation focuses on three types of periodic orbits in the vicinity of the Moon: Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits (NRHOs), which are periodic in the Earth-Moon rotating frame in the CR3BP; butterfly orbits, a periodic family that bifurcates off the NRHOs; and circular Low Lunar Orbits (LLOs), which are periodic in a Keplerian sense. and shows the drawing below. There are several questions and answers here about near-rectilinear halo orbits and the ever-so-popular YouTube video Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit Explained and Visu

Recommends smallstars · 2020-12 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “How will the Lunar Gateway go to L2 and L1; how much delta-v is needed?”

Whether or not Jim Bridenstine said it, gateway won't literally go to L1 and L2. The current plan is to use a Southern L2 NRHO ( Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit) which doesn't actually go near the L2 point. If it were a regular Halo Orbit, it would appear to orbit L2, and be closer to L2 than the Moon. A Near (read: Almost ) Rectilinear orbit is offset from L2 so much that it's almost a straight up and down line. I've recently spoken with an orbital dynamics specialist who is working on the Gateway project. They helped me in my research for my own video on this subject How To Land On The Moon (out soon on the smallstars youtube channel.) The person I spoke to made this illustration of where Gate

Cites user12102 · 2017-12 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “What is a near rectilinear halo orbit?”

A proposed option for the lunar orbit of a Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway [LINK] (formerly known as Deep Space Gateway) is a near rectilinear halo orbit, or NRHO. This excellent answer [LINK] discusses the various tradeoffs between different lunar orbit options and explains why the NRHO appears to be such a good candidate. But what is a near rectilinear halo orbit to begin with? Is it different than a "normal" halo orbit or just a subclass? Is there such a thing as a "true" rectilinear halo orbit as well? What makes it so special? There are some visual clues in the video, especially here [LINK] and here [LINK] but the captions are minimal. These might be good places to start. For convenience

Cites user12102 · 2017-12 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “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 [LINK] (formerly known as Deep Space Gateway)? Are there specific logistical and orbital-mechanical advantages over other possible orbits in cis-lunar space; other Lagrange point associated orbits or even high or elliptical lunar orbits for example? The Deep Space Gateway would be initially placed in a near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) around the Moon.

Cites user12102 · 2018-05 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “What artificial satellite has the farthest orbit around the Earth?”

note: @BillGray's answer of XL8D89E [LINK] is the highest and the correct answer! I found the following "far out" spacecraft: TESS [LINK] (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) recently launched, not in final orbit yet Spektr-R [LINK] IBEX [LINK] or Interstellar Boundary Explorer Geotail [LINK] Here are their IDs: TESS 43435 2018-038A Spektr-R 37755 2011-037A IBEX 33401 2008-051A Geotail 22049 1992-044A I downloaded both TLEs [LINK] and orbit data from JPL Horizons [LINK] in order to piece together this qualitative data. The problem is that for such high orbits, the gravity of the Sun and the Moon can push them around significantly so their orbits change over time, sometimes by quite a bit!

Cites user12102 · 2019-03 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “Rendezvouses in halo or lissajous orbits”

note: The following two questions are related, may possibly have some helpful information, but both remain unanswered: Did DSCOVR travel “along the stable manifold of its future SE L1 Halo orbit” to get there? [LINK] Can Lissajous orbits have stable/unstable manifolds? [LINK] 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 craft could rendezvous with the first? tl;dr: They could rendezvous immediately or at any time later. Theoretically you can approach a halo orbit at any point by following a trajectory that falls within it's associated Lagra

Cites user12102 · 2019-06 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “Is the Gateway's halo orbit bound to Earth? Would the Gateway remain in Earth orbit if the Moon disappeared?”

Discussion below this answer [LINK] 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. Thinking about this has led me to ask something specific: Question: Is the Gateway's halo orbit bound to Earth? Would the Gateway remain in Earth orbit if the Moon disappeared but drift away from the Moon if the Earth disappeared? For more on the Gateway's orbit, see What is a near rectilinear halo orbit? [LINK] Why is a near rectilinear halo orbit proposed for LOP-G (formerly known as Deep Space Gateway?) [LINK]

Cites user12102 · 2021-06 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “Could there be a relatively stable near-rectilinear halo orbit associated with the Sun-Earth L1 or L2 points? Would the Moon screw it up?”

Question: Could there be a relatively stable near-rectilinear halo orbit (NLHO) associated with the Sun-Earth L1 or L2 points? Would it be similarly stable as the Earth-Moon NLHO proposed for the "gateway"? Or perhaps would the Moon as a fourth body in this 3-body concept screw it up? One can learn more about these orbits and halo orbit stability in answer(s) to What is a near rectilinear halo orbit? [LINK] How to find Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits (NHROs)? [LINK] Are some Halo Orbits actually Stable? [LINK] How to use "patch points" to make a continuous halo orbit? [LINK] Why is a near rectilinear halo orbit proposed for LOP-G (formerly known as Deep Space Gateway?) [LINK]

Cites ChrisR · 2021-08 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “Can mascons have Lagrange-like points? In principle? At the Moon?”

Your thought problem is interesting. Refresher on Halo orbits First, it's important to recall that the CR3BP allows one to rewrite the equations of motion in a non-inertial rotating frame. This is important because it also means that the Lagrange points themselves exist solely in this rotating frame. This superb visualization by Dr. Diane Davis shows at the 1min 08s mark what an NRHO looks like in a non-rotating frame, specifically in the Earth centered J2000 inertial frame: . Second, the CR3BP is an approximation of real world dynamics, it's a useful tool for preliminary work. Detailed analysis and operational work is done in an inertial frame when accounting for the mascons of the Earth an