## 8. Lunar Missions--Support to Artemis
It was observed that the satellites remained stable under the given lunar perturbations and local conditions as shown below but this monitoring has to be continuous and be observed until their lifecycles expire. These observations were made for 5 days of propagation. Tracking the position of the satellites with due consideration to the elevation angle from the ground station is a major scenario to observe. As Shackleton is located at the South Pole, the tracking of the operations and the astronaut positions will be a heavy-duty responsibility of the small satellites. They need to coordinate with ground systems at Shackleton to let it know their position and be available at its designed elevation angle and tracking capabilities. Hence, Figure 11(b) provides a detailed outlook of how the tracking and positioning of each satellite being monitored with the Shackleton ground station. When considering a two-body problem with an Earth and moon system, the lunar beta angle plays a vital role in knowing the satellite's operating track and monitoring it in the long run. The beta-Earth angle is the angle among the Earth-moon vector and the lunar orbit plane in which satellites are installed to operate. Figure 11(c) provides a significant idea about how the lunar beta angles would vary with respect to the elapsed time of the given master satellite (CAPS1) at the Shackleton ground station. All the satellites showed the same behavior over time and remained consistent with their beta angles, which is a great sign considering a harsh lunar environment and stable tracking. The velocities are essential track in order to know their behavior in the lunar environment irrespective of their other operating parameters. The reason for this is that changes in velocities (Delta-V factor) provides crucial information on the health of the satellites in their orbits and define the need for control and maneuvers in a timely manner for continuous operation and ground support. Hence, Figure 11(d) outlines a monitoring scenario of all satellites in constellation over 5 days. The variation in this scenario remained under 2 km/s for a full orbit movement, ensuring stability in their operating environment. As mentioned in Section 6, the semi-major axis and inclination of the orbits are prominent orbital parameters to align an optimal trajectory for each plane in a constellation, as lunar missions supporting Artemis also need regular optimizations to keep up quick access of the satellite information to the systems and astronauts on lunar surface. Though this paper did not cover the optimizations of the orbits, an observation of both its parameters was given to analyze their behavior under severe lunar conditions as portrayed. Figure 11(e),f shows the variation of the semi-major axis and Inclination with the elevation angle form the ground station at Shackleton of each satellite (CAPS1\(\sim\)4). Finally, the AlphaRE angle was used to give additional support to the attitude and control of the satellites and their tracking being analyzed for this scenario. This is the angle between the satellite's Y-axis and projection of satellite-earth vector on satellite's Y-Z plane as shown in Figure 11(g), respectively. As shown, the AphaRE remained under 90 degrees, which provides a good sign of the satellite's healthy operation within its given orbit. This will be continuously monitored and upgraded over time of its lifecycle. A consistent research on the literature work is carried out to be aware of how others are aligning their thoughts with respect to Artemis operations and other lunar missions as well. Prominent works performed so far by the global space community are creating a further scope for real-time analysis and related research in this direction, respectively [18; 19; 20]. Overall, the figures below were obtained to give an insight on the essence of tracking major parameters under such harsh lunar environment.