In this report, the authors build on existing geographical and cartographical precedent to propose four clear astrographic regions — surface environment, near-body space, celestial neighborhood, and deep space — each grounded in durable physical thresholds or established conventions. Designed to be accessible, durable, and generalizable, the framework aims to support discourse among a wide variety of space professionals.

Charting the Cosmos

Operational Astrography for the New Space Era

Bruce McClintock, Jordan Logue, Jan Osburg, Srikant Kumar Sahoo, Karen Schwindt

ResearchPublished Aug 6, 2025

As scientific, commercial, and geopolitical activities accelerate beyond near-Earth, existing delineations of deeper space are proving to be insufficient; often, they are highly technical, inconsistently applied, and inaccessible to many decisionmakers. In this report, the authors build on existing geographical and cartographical precedent to propose four clear astrographic regions — surface environment, near-body space, celestial neighborhood, and deep space — each grounded in durable physical thresholds or established conventions. Designed to be accessible, durable, and generalizable, the framework aims to support discourse among a wide variety of space professionals. The authors also highlight opportunities for further improving this framework, including the incorporation of multibody gravitational boundaries, four-dimensional mapping, and additional space regions and features as space activities continue to evolve.

Key Findings

  • Despite advancements in mapping the Earth, the Moon, and even nearby planets, the field of space mapping lacks agreed-upon terms and definitions for depicting and describing the empty space between celestial bodies.
  • Existing space depictions have tended to originate in academia and thus prioritize exactness and detail over accessibility, affecting their utility for decisionmakers and space operators.
  • The authors offer a novel framework for delineating the astrographic regions for any given gravitational system, following three guiding principles: ensuring a framework that is accessible to policymakers and space planners of all types, durable over the long term, and generalizable across different gravitational systems.
  • As interest in cislunar space accelerates, the clear definition and consistent depiction of this region offered in this report will be helpful to support coordination, safety, and future space development.
  • Minimum orbit (minorbit) spheres, mass concentrations (mascons), Lagrange zones, reference frames, and Hill spheres are valuable features that future researchers can use to define analogous regions in other gravitational systems.
  • The authors anticipate that future work will refine these definitions and incorporate additional concepts not covered in this report.

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McClintock, Bruce, Jordan Logue, Jan Osburg, Srikant Kumar Sahoo, and Karen Schwindt, Charting the Cosmos: Operational Astrography for the New Space Era. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2025. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA4003-1.html.
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This work was funded by Founders Pledge and conducted within the International Security and Defense Policy Program of the RAND National Security Research Division (NSRD).

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