Application of the CR3BP To Modeling L1 Halo Orbits Using ASSET*

As an intern research project at Marshal Spaceflight Center, ASSET (Astrodynamics Software and Science Enabling Toolkit), a Python and C library developed at the University of Alabama, was used to model L1 Orbits through implementation of the Circular Restricted 3 Body Problem (CR3BP). The CR3BP is a method used to model the effects of gravitational forces of two bodies acting on a spacecraft, and does so in enough detail to model Lagrange points, areas in a three-body system where the forces from the two massive bodies acting on the third cancel out. The CR3BP method was applied to model a family of halo orbits around the first Lagrange point in the Earth-Moon system, and a mission profile using an example orbit was modeled and optimized through ASSET, for the purpose of examining the value of these orbits as an alternative to NRHO for the Artemis program's Gateway Lunar Space Station.