Assessment of Cislunar Staging Orbits to Support the Artemis III Lunar Surface Mission

Since NASA’s selection of an L2 9:2 lunar synodic resonant Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) as the baseline for the Gateway Program, the agency has worked to mature its understanding of this orbit and its use for the Artemis III, IV, and V missions. In parallel with these efforts, NASA has investigated alternative staging orbits to perform the Artemis III lunar surface landing mission and compared those options to the baseline NRHO. This paper evaluates a number of alternative orbits on their feasibility and favorability and compares them to the agency baseline NRHO.