What are LaGrange Points, and Why do they Matter?

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

We just celebrated 20 years of continuous human presence in space. Plans to replace the ISS are well underway (the station was designed to last 15 years and is starting to show problems).

That presence, however, is in low earth orbit. This makes sense. The further from Earth we go, the more expensive it is in terms of fuel and time spent in transit by astronauts.

In the long term, as we come up with technologies to reduce those costs, low earth orbit is not the best place to put a space habitat. Especially a space city.

So, where is? The answer boils down to math one by a brilliant man long before we even dreamed of going to space.

Photo by Antoine Dautry on Unsplash

Who is this Lagrange Guy, Anyway?

Joseph-Louis Lagrange was a French-Italian mathematician born in Piedmont-Sardinia (which is now part of Italy) in 1736.

Yes.

1736. This guy was working in the 18th century when we didn’t even have manned flight. We didn’t even have hot air balloons until 1783.