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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°.
The Moon's orbit is subtly perturbed by the Sun and Earth in many small, complex and interacting ways. For example, the plane of the Moon's orbit gradually rotates once every 18.61 years, [181] which affects other aspects of lunar motion. These follow-on effects are mathematically described by Cassini's laws.
[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 ...
A lunar node is either of the two orbital nodes of the Moon; that is, the two points at which the orbit of the Moon intersects the ecliptic. The ascending (or north) node is where the Moon moves into the northern ecliptic hemisphere, while the descending (or south) node is where the Moon enters the southern ecliptic hemisphere.
Blue Ghost, which left Earth's orbit behind a few days before entering lunar orbit Feb. 13, completed its third and final engine burn Sunday night to position it as close to the moon as it can get ...
This is an artificial animation of one lunar orbit; in reality, the visible hemisphere would go through phases of dark and light as the Moon rotates with respect to the Sun. Earth's Moon's rotation and orbital periods are tidally locked with each other, so no matter when the Moon is observed from Earth, the same hemisphere of the Moon is always ...
Preparations for the uncrewed lunar lander built and operated by Texas-based Firefly Aerospace to enter the moon's orbit ramped up Feb. 8 with a propulsive maneuver known as a "trans lunar injection."