METRIC FLIGHT / MISSION ENGINEERING / 24 OCTOBER 2026
Separate long-duration station reboost from time-critical avoidance, docking constraints and verified end-of-life disposal.
Define the maneuver
Measure performance
Power, heat, plume
Validate the system
Animated sequence explains dependencies; it does not depict measured performance.
Define the maneuver and its timeline. Scheduled low thrust needs time and available power. Time-critical maneuvers require separately sized capability. Validate the engine before station integration.
THE ENGINEERING / ARLO reboost, docking and disposal operations
A low-thrust option can be evaluated when an extended firing window is available. Include drag accumulated during the burn, attitude constraints, power interruptions and propellant reserves. The illustrative 0.5 N case for a 60-tonne station takes 33.3 hours of firing for an ideal 1 m/s maneuver; at half-time operation it takes about 2.78 days.
Collision avoidance requires an independently specified response time and achievable trajectory change. Do not infer adequacy from a long-duration reboost calculation. Keep a conventional maneuver capability in the concept baseline until a vehicle-level analysis establishes the required authority, reliability and fault tolerance.
Reserve approach and departure corridors. Define plume keep-out regions and inhibit conditions with each visiting vehicle. Propulsion disturbances can affect microgravity experiments, imaging and precision measurements; the operations plan must decide which activities can overlap. A graphical orbit is not a rendezvous solution.
Thruster location, center-of-mass changes, flexibility and gimbal limits couple translation to torque. Reaction wheels or control-moment devices store angular momentum and need an unloading strategy; they do not provide unlimited translation. Track both angular and linear momentum budgets.
Maintain an end-of-life plan with protected propellant, power, navigation and command capability. Demonstrate the intended maneuver in credible failure configurations and obtain the required mission review. Crew return and emergency departure must remain independent of the experimental propulsion payload.
These pages describe Metric Flight proposals and calculations, not qualified hardware. External references establish engineering context; they do not validate our station architecture.
CONTINUE THE MISSION
Explore how propulsion research connects to ARLO, lunar transport, power, cooling and investment milestones.
Read the study ↗02 / EXPLOREStudy the additional electrical load, radiator demand and eclipse storage that an electric propulsion option would impose on ARLO.
Read the study ↗04 / EXPLOREUnderstand the separate launch, transfer, landing, ascent and return requirements behind the Metric Flight Moon station concept.
Read the study ↗05 / EXPLOREFollow the measurement gates from reference momentum closure through magnetic redesign, system comparison and a possible uncrewed demonstration.
Read the study ↗06 / EXPLOREReview current computational assets, proposed hardware, station concepts and the evidence required before stronger commercial or IP claims.
Read the study ↗FROM UNDERSTANDING TO REVIEW
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