On 11/10/2010 14:22, Kathryn Huxtable wrote:
{snip}

>
> The cool thing about L4 and L5 (the ones that make an equilateral
> triangle) is that while L1, L2, and L3 are stable, if some outside
> force, e.g. another planet, disturbs the object it won't stay in the
> Lagrange point, in L4 and L5, they will simply end up
"orbiting" around
> the Lagrange point. It's not a true orbit in that there's no mass
> necessarily at the Lagrange point and the orbit isn't Newtonian.
>
> So while there can't be very much stuff at the L1, L2, and L3 points,
> the L4 and L5 points can have a lot of different objects, each displaced
> from the actual point and moving around it. It makes a nice setting for
> space stations.

Unfortunately a spaceship needs more fuel to get to L4 and L5 than the 
other Lagrange points so a Mars and Lunar Gateway spacestation will end 
up at L1.

Andrew Swallow
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