Achromatic Trajectories and the Industrial-Scale Transport of Lunar Resources

Large-scale transport of lunar material can be accomplished by launches in small payloads by mass-driver along unguided trajectories. Achromatic trajectories then overcome the problem of dispersions due to launch velocity errors. These trajectories incorporate a focusing effect, which reduces the dispersions by four orders of magnitude from their expected values. The mass-driver is to be located close to the lunar equator at 33.1 deg E longitude. A mass-catcher then can maneuver near the L(2) Lagrangian point, intercepting the payloads. For an optimized catching trajectory, the catcher requires delta-V = 187 m/s per month, peak thrust = 0.1414 newtons per ton of loaded catcher mass, and for a reference propulsion concept, the Rotary Pellet Launcher, peak power of 0.316 kilowatts per ton. Caught material can be transferred with delta-V = 60 m/s to a processing facility (space colony) in stable high earth orbit. This transport system can accommodate 100,000 tons per month of lunar material, with an appropriately sized mass-catcher.