What Is Distant Retrograde Orbit, And Why Is Artemis 1 Using It?

Artemis I flew beyond the Moon into a Distant Retrograde orbit, this is a special orbit which appears to orbit the moon backwards at a distance beyond the moon's lagrange points. The orbit requires low delta-V to reach and is stable over long periods, however, it regularly passes through regions where the Moon eclipses the Sun or the Earth, which is why NRHO is preferred for the Lunar Gateway. You can get Universe Sandbox from the Humble store with this link, I make a small affiliate fee if you buy using this link https://www.humblebundle.com/store/universe-sandbox?partner=szyzyg There's some great technical details in this paper https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20180001259/downloads/20180001259.pdf Follow me on Twitter for more updates: https://twitter.com/DJSnM I have a discord server where I regularly turn up: https://discord.gg/zStmKbM If you really like what I do you can support me directly through Patreon https://www.patreon.com/scottmanley