Orbital Electromagnetic Acceleration Corridor (OEAC)

Abstract

The ISRU Centrifugal Orbital Node (ICON) is a conceptual design for a small, permanently crewed station in Lunar orbit. Combining a zero-g main hull for docking, logistics, refueling ports and workspace that functions with a rotating centrifuge pod that provides artificial gravity for crew habitation. The station is designed around a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) for long term stability, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) of Lunar polar ice for propellant, and consumables, and a centrifuge geometry chosen to keep rotational effects within established human comfort factor limits. This document presents the station concept, its major subsystems and the full set of governing engineering calculations used to size them.

1. ICON

ICON is conceived as a small-crew (4-6 people) outpost in Lunar orbit. Serving as a staging point for lunar surface operations, extraterrestrial missions, a research platform for long duration partial-isolation human factors, and a technology demonstrator for ISRU-derived propellant and life support consumables.

2. Artificial Gravity. Centrifuge Design

The centrifuge pod is sized to provide 1g of artificial gravity at deck level while keeping rotation within the range that is generally considered tolerable for a trained crew.

3. Structural Design — Spoke / Tether

The spoke connects the zero-g main hull to the rotating centrifuge pod and carries the full centripetal tensile load of the pod. It is sized in tension using a carbon-fiber composite (CFRP), selected for its high strength-to-weight ratio relative to metals.

4. Orbital Mechanics

ICON is placed in a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO), the same orbit selected for NASA's Lunar Gateway. NRHO’s avoid the rapid decay that happens in low circular lunar orbits while requiring only a small annual stationkeeping propellant budget.

5. Power Systems

Electrical power is provided by deployable solar arrays sized for continuous station load, with battery storage sized to cover the maximum expected eclipse duration per orbit.

6. Thermal Control

Waste heat from electronics, life support, and crew metabolism is sent out into space via deployable radiator panels sized using the Stefan-Boltzmann law.

7. Radiation Shielding

Crew quarters use water as primary shielding mass. Hydrogen rich materials blocksgalactic cosmic rays (GCR) more effectively per kilogram than metals, and water doubles as a stored consumable.

8. Propulsion and ISRU

Stationkeeping propellant is derived from electrolyzed water ice mined at the lunar poles (ISRU), consistent with the station's namesake. Propellant mass is sized using the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation against the orbital stationkeeping Δv budget.

9. Life Support and Consumables

Resupply mass is calculated per crew rotation, accounting for ISS-realistic environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) recycling rates. Food cannot be recycled and is supplied in full.

10. Summary of Key Results

In the document attached below.

11. Assumptions, Open Items, and Future Work

In the document attached below.

12. Conclusion

The ICON concept demonstrates that a 50 m radius, 4.23 RPM centrifugal station in a lunar NRHO is physically and structurally feasible using current materials and propulsion technology. Rotational comfort metrics, structural margins, power and thermal budgets, radiation shielding requirements, and consumables logistics all land within established or reasonably projected engineering limits. The next design phase should focus on detailed subsystem mass closure, dynamic structural analysis of the spin-up sequence, and integration of the ISRU propellant and water production chain with the station's resupply logistics chain.

This PDF file contains the full, current in-depth information about ICON.