Emerging Research in Cislunar Space and How to Get Involved

This workshop will introduce NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions, emerging research areas in cislunar space, and opportunities for programmers, engineers, students, and space enthusiasts to contribute to humanity’s return to the Moon. Participants will learn the fundamentals of orbital motion, reference frames, trajectory design, and orbit propagation before exploring current research in cislunar space situational awareness, lunar landing and descent, and space robotics. The session will conclude with a short Python demonstration of selenocentric orbit propagation using planetary ephemerides.The workshop will be led by Scott Blender, a third-year Ph.D. student in aerospace engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and a researcher in the Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory. His research focuses on spacecraft guidance, cislunar space domain awareness, and lunar-surface sensor networks. He previously interned at AstronetX, a startup developing an optical system for cislunar space situational awareness. The workshop will be organized as follows: NASA’s Return to the Moon Through Artemis Fundamentals of Orbital Motion: Kepler’s Laws and Newtonian Gravitation Two-Body Orbit Propagation, Reference Frames, and Selenocentric Orbits Emerging Cislunar Research: Space Situational Awareness, Lunar Landing and Descent, and Space Robotics Live Python Demonstration: Ephemeris-Supported Orbit Propagation Q&A and Opportunities to Get Involved