Cislunar spacecraft fragments (IMAGE)
Caption
In this chart, fragments of an exploded spacecraft near the moon are predicted to disperse millions of miles away within just a month’s time depending on the orbit where the explosion took place. The length of each colored line in this chart indicates how far fragments could spread in 30 days from one explosion point on an orbit of the Lyapunov orbit family around a location called the second Lagrange "L2" point. These orbits are being considered for cislunar missions. On each orbit, the explosion point is assumed to be in line with the Earth and moon.
Credit
Purdue University image/Ariel Black and Carolin Frueh
Usage Restrictions
No restrictions.
License
Public Domain