A Comprehensive Review on Cislunar Expansion and Space Domain Awareness

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive review of Cislunar space expansion, recent missions, and space domain awareness efforts, highlighting key regions of interest and identifying gaps in current SDA capabilities.

Contribution

It offers an extensive synthesis of recent and upcoming Cislunar missions, analyzes space domain awareness challenges, and evaluates the Artemis 1 trajectory to identify areas for improvement.

Findings

Identification of key regions of interest like the South Pole and Near-rectilinear halo orbit

Analysis of Artemis 1 trajectory revealing SDA shortfalls

Trends and practices in Cislunar mission planning

Abstract

The Cislunar region is crucial for expanding human presence in space in the forthcoming decades. This paper presents a comprehensive review of recent and anticipated Earth-Moon missions, and ongoing space domain awareness initiatives. An introduction to the dynamics as well as periodic trajectories in the Cislunar realm is presented. Then, a review of modern Cislunar programs as well as smaller missions are compiled to provide insights into the key players pushing towards the Moon. Trends of Cislunar missions and practices are identified, including the identification of regions of interest, such as the South Pole and the Near-rectilinear halo orbit. Finally, a review of the current state and short-comings of space domain awareness (SDA) in the region is included, utilizing the regions of interest as focal points for required improvement. The SDA review is completed through the analysis of the Artemis 1 trajectory.