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Orbit Selection for the Proposed Lynx Observatory MissionThe Advanced Concepts Office design team performed several analyses and trades in support of orbit selection for the proposed Lynx mission, an x-ray observatory being submitted to the Astro2020 Decadal Survey. Though the descriptions in this Technical Memorandum (TM) focus on the Lynx mission, the approach and process for selecting the final orbit is applicable to a variety of proposed science and exploration missions. To select the best orbit for the Lynx science, mission designers assembled a team of subsystem and discipline experts, in addition to mission analysts, to evaluate several candidate orbits. These discipline experts included members of the science and instrument team, power and avionics, thermal, propulsion, and environments. The goal was to clearly show the benefits and weaknesses of each orbit in the trade space and provide sound justification for the final selection. Discipline experts conducted trades and evaluated the results using a variety of methods including engineering judgement, rough estimates, and detailed calculations, and rolled the results into a final grade using a weighted grading method. The orbit options could then be ranked. The principal investigator (PI) for the mission, along with the science team, was given the task of final orbit selection. The result of the trades indicated that a halo orbit about the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point (SE-L2), similar to the planned orbit for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), was the best choice for the Lynx mission. Details of how the team arrived at this selection are below.



Document ID
20200000561
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Technical Memorandum (TM)
Authors
Hopkins, R. C. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Schnell, A. R. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Sutherlin, S. G. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Suggs, R. J. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Boswell, T. M. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Capizzo, P. D. (Jacobs Engineering Group Huntsville, AL, United States)
Baysinger, M. (Jacobs Engineering Group Huntsville, AL, United States)
Garcia, J. C. (Jacobs Engineering Group Huntsville, AL, United States)
Fabisinski, L. L. (International Space Systems, Inc. Huntsville, AL, United States)
Date Acquired
January 28, 2020
Publication Date
January 1, 2020
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Space Communications, Spacecraft Communications, Command And Tracking
Report/Patent Number
NASA/TM-2020-220554
M-1501
Report Number: NASA/TM-2020-220554
Report Number: M-1501
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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