Lunar Polar Orbit Relay Constellation and Its Deployment and Maintenance

Lunar relay satellite (LRS) constellation is required for the exploration of the back and polar region of the Moon. In order to provide high coverage performance, generally we choose high circular or elliptical orbits for the relay satellites. Elliptical orbit constellation needs the minimum number of satellites to provide continuous coverage of the Moon´s south pole region. But the circular polar orbit has better scalability, and is easy to constitute a global coverage constellation by launching and deploying twice the same number of satellites. Here the polar orbit, which not only meets the demand for work, but also has high stability, has been found through establishing the satellite´s force model and the perturbation function in lunar environment, and designing the deployment and maintenance strategy of the constellation.