Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Low lunar orbit (LLO) is an orbit below 100 km (62 mi) altitude. These have a period of about 2 hours. [ 2 ] They are of particular interest in the exploration of the Moon , but suffer from gravitational perturbations that make most unstable, and leave only a few orbital trajectories possible for indefinite frozen orbits .
The lunar orbit's major axis – the longest diameter of the orbit, joining its nearest and farthest points, the perigee and apogee, respectively – makes one complete revolution every 8.85 Earth years, or 3,232.6054 days, as it rotates slowly in the same direction as the Moon itself (direct motion) – meaning precesses eastward by 360°.
[19] [20] Planned orbit for the NASA Lunar Gateway in circa 2024, as a highly-elliptical seven-day near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon, which would bring the small space station within 3,000 kilometers (1,900 mi) of the lunar north pole at closest approach and as far away as 70,000 kilometers (43,000 mi) over the lunar south pole. [21 ...
The semi-major axis of the geocentric lunar orbit, called the lunar distance, is approximately 400,000 km (250,000 miles or 1.28 light-seconds), comparable to going around Earth 9.5 times. [177] The Moon makes a complete orbit around Earth with respect to the fixed stars, its sidereal period, about once every 27.3 days.
On Artemis missions, a trip to the Moon (scheduled for 2025) and eventually Mars will require a stopover at the Lunar Gateway, a space station that will support a sustainable human presence on the ...
The phone booth-size Odysseus lander spent the past week in space, traveling about 620,370 miles (1 million kilometers) through the void before placing itself in lunar orbit on Wednesday morning ...
Longest operational lunar rover after breaking the longevity record of 321 Earth days held by Soviet Union's Lunokhod 1 rover. [82] China 20 November 2019 Moon: Chang'e 5: First robotic rendezvous and docking by two spacecraft (lunar orbiter attached with reentry-capsule and lunar ascent vehicle) in lunar orbit or any orbit other than Earth's ...
After it reaches lunar orbit, the uncrewed craft will land near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium – a 300-mile-wide basin in the northeast quadrant of the moon's near ...