April 2019
LISA Pathfinder – paving the way for future studies of the gravitational universe
...in space. To achieve the required free-fall ‘purity’, an orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L1 (a virtual point in space known as the Sun-Earth Libration Point 1 - SEL#1) was selected as baseline. This orbit provided an eclipse-free, and hence...
May 2025
A time zone for the Moon
... main production activity of any new space civilisation. Indeed, one day, the Moon and its satellites at Lagrange points L1 and L2 are expected to be symmetrically connected to the Moon by space elevators, providing two extremely interesting foci for...
December 2014
Terraforming Mars: from CFCs to Total Recall
... one might conceivably be able to block the solar wind by constructing a planet-sized shield at the L1 Lagrange point. (The Lagrange points are points of neutral gravitational stability. L1 is located between the planet and the Sun.) Mars also lacks...
July 2019
Settling the final frontier
... as vast complexes in space, positioned at gravitationally stable Lagrange points surrounding the Earth and Moon, with populations in the ... giant cylinders positioned at the Earth-Moon Lagrange points. The cylinders would be constructed out of...
February 2021
On the nature of spacepower
...corridors of movement and commerce”. Other ‘strategic narrows’ include the geostationary belt and the Earth-Moon Lagrange Points. Just as Mahan recommended the placement of naval bases at strategic locations in the ocean, Dolman suggests that a state...
June 2022
Sunshades in space could help alleviate Earth’s climate crisis
...’s Solar Cruiser mission, planned for 2025, will demonstrate solar sail propulsion by flying sunward of Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1 (L-1) and maintaining its position along the Sun-Earth-line using only reflected light for propulsion...
