Wittal/Miaule/Asher Earth-Moon cycler family for lunar logistics (family seed)

wittal-2022-em-cycler-family · source: literature · validation: V0

Signature

Bodies: E-Moon
Primary: Earth
Sequence (canonical): E-Moon
Sense: n/a
Orbit class: Cycler
strict cycler (infinite returns)
Cycler class: non-keplerian (CR3BP)
Trajectory regime: ballistic
Maintenance ΔV band: unclassified
Model assumption: analytic-ephemeris
Mid-fidelity: real eccentricity / inclination retained; not full N-body.
Period: — yr ( × E-Moon synodic)
The paper studies a "petal" cycler family set in lunar resonance at lunar-relative inclination near 90 deg, with no single period for the family. Per-family cadence (full text, mining note §2): the 2-petal cycler orbits twice per lunar sidereal period (27.3 d), period "approximately 27 +/- 3 days" (Sec. 5, p. 4 — approximate, consistent with an ephemeris-class simulation, not an exact CR3BP period); the 5-petal has a lunar flyby once every 53 d and same-pole access every 163 d (Sec. 2.3, p. 2). years: null (Earth-Moon bound orbit, not a heliocentric-synodic cycler).
Priority date: 2022-09-18

V∞ at encounters

E (encounter 1): — (not published)
V_inf is n/a: these are BOUND Earth-Moon petal cycler orbits, not hyperbolic-encounter cyclers (mining note §5). Recorded n/a rather than not-extracted.
Moon (encounter 2): — (not published)
Same — n/a for a bound Earth-Moon orbit.

CR3BP orbit identity

Mass ratio (μ): 0.01215
Jacobi constant: —
Period (non-dim): —
Stability index: —

Lunar-relative inclination near 90 deg is the family's primary distinguishing parameter (abstract; Conclusions, p. 5), but no single (a, e, peri, apo) characterises the set. Specific full-text geometry: 2-petal at 20,000 km perilune has Earth-relative inclination ~28.5 deg (KSC latitude); the 5-petal high-inclination variant at 10,000 km perilune reaches perigee altitudes as low as 600 km at Earth inclination 80.5 deg (Sec. 3, p. 3).

Orbit view 2.5D ecliptic projection

Not renderable from current data. This is a rotating-frame (CR3BP) periodic orbit. A faithful render requires numerical propagation of the synodic-frame state, which the catalogue does not yet publish as a sampled path — so no stand-in ellipse is drawn (drawing a heliocentric ellipse here would misrepresent the dynamics). The CR3BP identity (Jacobi constant, period, stability) is tabulated above.

model: spacecraft: analytic-ephemeris (real e/i retained)

3D view not available for rotating-frame (CR3BP) orbits.

Definition status

incomplete — core fields missing or known-unknowns tracked below

Known-unknowns (4)

Values we expect to exist but have not yet filled (distinct from "not applicable"). Tracked per upstream docs/spec.md §16.6.4.

orbit_elements.cr3bp.state_nd [unknown]
NO_SOURCED_IC, now PERMANENT with respect to this source: mining of the FULL IAC-22-C1.6.6 PDF (mining note §1) confirms it contains ZERO initial conditions of any kind — no state vectors, no rotating-frame ICs, no Jacobi constants, no nd-periods, no stability indices/eigenvalues, no epochs; the orbits exist only as rendered figures. This is a PUBLICATION gap in the primary source, not an access gap. The reclassified analytic-ephemeris model also makes a CR3BP nd-state inapplicable. The only remaining source-axis lead is the companion paper ref [9] (Wittal/Smith/M. 2021 AAS/AIAA, robotic lunar + Gateway payload return).

source: Wittal, M. M., Smith, J. D., M., C. A. 2021 (AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference) — the companion paper; may state the simulation environment / orbit states.
orbit_elements.cr3bp.jacobi_constant [not-applicable]
PERMANENT: the paper's model is ephemeris-class (reclassified analytic-ephemeris), not CR3BP, so a Jacobi constant is not a conserved quantity here; and the full text is figures-only (no constant of any kind is published). Part of the NO_SOURCED_IC permanent gap (mining note §1).

source: Wittal, Miaule, Asher 2022 IAC-22-C1.6.6 full text (figures-only); companion ref [9].
orbit_elements.cr3bp.period_nd [not-applicable]
PERMANENT: the paper's model is ephemeris-class (reclassified analytic-ephemeris), not CR3BP, so a non-dimensional CR3BP period does not apply; the only published period is the 2-petal '~27 +/- 3 days' (approximate, dimensional, Sec. 5 p. 4).

source: Wittal, Miaule, Asher 2022 IAC-22-C1.6.6 full text (figures-only).
orbit_elements.cr3bp.stability_index [unknown]
PERMANENT with respect to this source: no monodromy/eigenvalue/stability-index data anywhere in the full text. Stability is described only qualitatively (the 2-petal is the most stable family; 3-petal unstable everywhere; stability domain by perilune passage 7,500-15,000 km).

source: Wittal, Miaule, Asher 2022 IAC-22-C1.6.6 full text (figures-only); companion ref [9].

Primary citation

Wittal, M. M. et al. (2022). Earth-Moon Cycler Mission Design for Lunar Logistics. 73rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Paris, France, September 18-22, 2022, paper IAC-22-C1.6.6.

URL: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20220013595

NTRS document ID 20220013595, paper IAC-22-C1.6.6. Authors are at Kennedy Space Center (Wittal), Deep Space Logistics (Miaule), and Aegis Aerospace (Asher). PROVENANCE: this row was originally ingested from the NTRS landing-page ABSTRACT only; enriched 2026-06-12 from the FULL IAC-22-C1.6.6 PDF (mining note docs/notes/2026-06-11-wittal-2022-iac-mining.md). The earlier "full IAC PDF was not accessible" note is now obsolete.

Corroborating sources

Wittal, M. M. et al. (2022). BuzzCraft: Evolution of A Sturdy Cislunar Cycler Architecture for Permanent Lunar Settlement Logistics. AIAA ASCEND 2022, AIAA 2022-4345. DOI: 10.2514/6.2022-4345
Sibling AIAA ASCEND paper from the same author group expanding on the cislunar cycler architecture.

Notes

Family-seed entry, enriched from the FULL IAC-22-C1.6.6 text. The paper applies cycler mechanics to lunar logistics (cargo/crew resupply between Earth, the Gateway, and the lunar South Pole) by removing the need for large rockets in favour of "more frequent but smaller missions". The families are near-polar "petal" cyclers in lunar resonance, explored at lunar-relative inclination near 90 deg. PETAL TAXONOMY (full text, mining note §2): - 2-petal (Sec. 2.1): orbits twice per lunar sidereal period (27.3 d); the MOST STABLE family; period "~27 +/- 3 days" (Sec. 5, p. 4). - 3-petal (Sec. 2.2 / Sec. 5): good NRHO/south-pole access but UNSTABLE EVERYWHERE — collapses readily into a 2-petal (or, less often, 5-petal) form; periapsis ~200,000 km, inclination < 35 deg; expensive to maintain in any configuration. - 5-petal (Sec. 2.3): lunar flyby every 53 d, same-pole access every 163 d; examined over perilune 7,500-15,000 km; greatest accessibility flexibility but highly variable inclination. - NEGATIVES: no stable 4-petal meeting the period+inclination requirement was found; > 5 petals considered infeasible (long periods). (Sec. 2.) 2-PETAL STABILITY DOMAIN (Sec. 5): "relatively stable and periodic so long as the perilune passage was greater than 7500 km and less than ~15,000 km in the +/- z direction"; perilune < 7,500 km destabilises (pushed into the 2-petal formation or a non-resonant orbit); at 20,000 km perilune the lunar gravity is insufficient to maintain high lunar inclination. Perilune passes alternate N/S poles, so a given pole is reachable every other cycle (Sec. 4). MAINTENANCE: lifetime station-keeping dV over 5 cycles is < 50 m/s for all 5-petal members (about half the per-cycle cost of 2-petal, but each 5-petal cycle is ~2x longer; Sec. 5, Figs. 6/8); 2-petal totals on the same < 50 m/s scale (Fig. 6). Course-correction burns at perilune and at perigee between petals 2-3, assumed impulsive. MODEL: the full text NEVER states a dynamical model; internal evidence (approximate ~27 +/- 3 d period; per-flyby MCC accumulation; cycle-to-cycle inclination/periapsis variation) leans EPHEMERIS-CLASS simulation, so the row's model_assumption was reclassified cr3bp -> analytic-ephemeris (mirroring the Genova-Aldrin cr3bp -> bicircular precedent). V_inf-at-encounters is n/a (these are bound Earth-Moon orbits, not hyperbolic-encounter cyclers). NO_SOURCED_IC is now PERMANENT with respect to this source (the full text is figures-only). The single remaining source-axis lead is the companion paper ref [9] (Wittal/Smith/M. 2021).

Source quotes (per-field provenance)

Every numerical value in this entry traces to a verbatim or paraphrased quote from a cited source.

first_published.title: NTRS 20220013595 title: "Earth-Moon Cycler Mission Design for Lunar Logistics" — Wittal, Miaule, Asher.
first_published.venue: NTRS metadata: "International Astronautical Congress, Paris, France, September 18-22, 2022, paper IAC-22-C1.6.6".
notes: Full-text quotes (IAC-22-C1.6.6, mining note §2-3): - 2-petal stability domain (Sec. 5): "relatively stable and periodic so long as the perilune passage was greater than 7500 km and less than ~15,000 km in the +/- z direction". - 2-petal period (Sec. 5, p. 4): "approximately 27 +/- 3 days". - 4-petal negative (Sec. 2, p. 2): "no stable four-petal cyclers were found that could meet the period and inclination requirement". - 5-petal cadence (Sec. 2.3, p. 2): lunar flyby once every 53 days, access to the same pole once every 163 days. - Maintenance (Sec. 5, p. 5): lifetime dV over 5 cycles < 50 m/s for all 5-petal family members.