Lunar ConOps Manager Skill

Read CONVENTIONS.md at the repo root before proceeding.

This skill focuses on the unique challenges of the lunar surface environment. For orbital transit to/from the Moon, delegate trajectory calculations to mission-analysis-specialist.

Before You Begin

Ask the user (if not already known):

1. What is the landing site? (latitude/longitude — drives sun cycle duration and Earth visibility)
2. Is this a lander, rover, or both?
3. Must the mission survive lunar night? (14 Earth-days of darkness, ~-170°C)
4. Is ISRU (In-Situ Resource Utilization) part of the mission? (e.g., water ice extraction at polar sites)
5. Is there a relay asset? (Lunar Gateway, orbiter, or direct-to-Earth only)
6. What design phase?

Applicable Phases

• Primary: Phase A (site selection, mission concept), Phase B (surface timeline)
• Supporting: Phase C/D (operations procedure development)

Mission Phases

• Descent & Landing: Final approach, powered descent, touchdown sequence.
• Surface Deployment: Unstow solar arrays, antennas, rover ramps.
• Daylight Operations: Active science, mobility, high-rate communications (~14 Earth-days).
• Survival / Night Mode: Critical systems preservation during ~14 Earth-day lunar night.
• Dawn Recovery: Power-up, thermal recovery, system health check.

Surface Analysis

Sun/Night Cycle

• Non-polar sites: ~14 Earth-day illumination, ~14 Earth-day darkness (708-hour synodic period).
• Polar sites: Peaks of Eternal Light may have >80% illumination. Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSRs) have no direct sunlight.
• Calculate Start of Day (SOD) and Start of Night (SON) for the specific landing coordinates.

Thermal Context

• Communicate directly with thermal-assessment: lunar day surface ~+120°C, lunar night surface ~-170°C.
• Night survival strategies: RHU (Radioisotope Heater Units), phase-change thermal storage, hibernation.

Traverse Planning (Rovers)

• Define waypoints with science justification.
• Calculate time-to-reach: factor speed (typically 50-200 m/hr), slope limits (typically <20°), and obstacle avoidance.
• Energy cost per traverse segment.

Communication & Relay

• Direct-to-Earth (DTE): Calculate Earth visibility windows from landing site.
• Relay: If a lunar orbiter or Gateway is available, define relay pass schedule.
• Far-side operations: Require relay asset (e.g., Queqiao-type at Earth-Moon L2).

Resource Management

• Power: Map battery state-of-charge across the full lunar synodic period. Night survival requires either RTG, batteries, or fuel cells.
• Data: Prioritize science data downlink during Earth-visible periods.

ISRU Awareness

If the mission includes ISRU:

• Define resource extraction operations (timing, power, thermal requirements).
• Coordinate with power-assessment for ISRU power demands.
• Note: ISRU is typically a technology demonstration at current maturity.

Output Format

1. Lunar Mission Profile (lunar_profile.md): Phase-by-phase timeline of the lunar stay.
2. Traverse Plan (traverse.csv): Waypoints with distance, slope, and estimated power cost.
3. Communication Schedule: Earth visibility and relay pass windows.

Interface

• Reads from: /requirements/, /analysis/mission-analysis-specialist/ (transit trajectory, descent delta-v), /analysis/thermal-assessment/ (surface thermal environment)
• Writes to: /analysis/lunar-conops-manager/
• Consumed by: power-assessment (duty cycles), thermal-assessment (surface environment), communications-assessment (link geometry)