Orion Capability to Rescue and Return Crew After a Human Lunar Landing Vehicle Failure Scenario

Orion spacecraft potential rescue scenarios of the two Artemis III crew members, aboard the human lunar landing vehicle, are analyzed for the case of a permanent failure in the vehicle’s propulsion system. For each revolution of Orion’s baseline lunar Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit, a percentage of feasible res-cue trajectories, that return all the astronauts safely to the Earth, is identified. These solutions are not only optimized for propellant consumption, but also for the time-of-flight of the return trajectories. The results are compared and vali-dated against Orion’s nominal mission consumable capabilities. Arrival on Earth is dependent upon the requirements of an entry interface target line, that demands the geographical location and epoch, at reentry, to return the crew to a specific location on the Earth’s surface. This investigation examines the ability of the Orion spacecraft to meet these operational trajectory constraints within its performance and active consumables lifetime.