/sci/ - Science & Math

>>15413154
>>15414356
> several new studies were conducted which indicated that L5 was not the best location for the colony. One question considered involved the transport of lunar material from L2 to the colony. It turned out that with the colony near L5, this transfer would need a velocity change of over 1400 feet per second. So there was interest in finding a colony site which could be reached more easily. This problem was studied by the simple method of mathematically letting a catcher depart L2 and following it to see where it would go
>The resulting computer solution showed it would go quite close to a stable orbit around Earth with a period of two weeks. Further, it was found that if the colony were located in such an orbit, it could be reached from L2, with velocity change as low as 30 feet per second
>When it was also found to be easier to reach such an orbit from Earth than to reach L5, and also easier to deliver powersats from the orbit to GEO, that clinched it. The colony will be in orbit some 200,000 miles from Earth at its farthest point and 100,000 miles at its closest point, taking a bit less than two weeks for each revolution