Editing 2909: Moon Landing Mission Profiles
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone.
Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision | Your text | ||
Line 10: | Line 10: | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | Getting astronauts to the | + | {{incomplete|Created by A MOON THAT LOOKS ESPECIALLY LARGE TONIGHT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
+ | |||
+ | Getting astronauts to the moon (and back) is extremly difficult. There are different strategies to do it. This comic reviews three mission profiles considered for the Apollo moon landings, and one which is absurd. In all cases, it only depicts the means to reach the Moon, more suitable for robotic missions that are not required to return, with manned/sample-return missions really requiring followup diagrams/notation to explain how to safely complete their journeys back to Earth. | ||
'''{{w|Lunar Orbit Rendezvous}} (LOR)''' | '''{{w|Lunar Orbit Rendezvous}} (LOR)''' | ||
Line 29: | Line 31: | ||
Explanation: This concept involved launching different parts of the spacecraft into Earth orbit using multiple rockets and then assembling them before heading to the Moon. It would have allowed almost arbitrarily large sizes of equipment to have reached the surface, perhaps to simplify the return journey, but with the complication of adding multiple orbital docking procedures to the project rather than most assembling and spacecraft mating being carried out prior to launch. It should be noted that Randall made a mistake on this point of the comic; the Earth Orbit Rendezvous would have required multiple launches of the {{w|Saturn IB}}, not multiple launches of the Saturn V. | Explanation: This concept involved launching different parts of the spacecraft into Earth orbit using multiple rockets and then assembling them before heading to the Moon. It would have allowed almost arbitrarily large sizes of equipment to have reached the surface, perhaps to simplify the return journey, but with the complication of adding multiple orbital docking procedures to the project rather than most assembling and spacecraft mating being carried out prior to launch. It should be noted that Randall made a mistake on this point of the comic; the Earth Orbit Rendezvous would have required multiple launches of the {{w|Saturn IB}}, not multiple launches of the Saturn V. | ||
− | |||
− | |||
'''{{w|Direct Ascent}}''' | '''{{w|Direct Ascent}}''' | ||
Line 39: | Line 39: | ||
Explanation: This was a simpler but less feasible approach, where a single huge rocket (or a particularly large rocket stack) would send the lander straight to the Moon. The inefficiency comes in taking a comparatively huge rocket down to the Moon and back up, requiring a lot more fuel than a separate lander. It avoids having to 'park' items in orbit that it must later dock once more with, but then increases the mass that must land on/take off from the lunar surface, without being useful during this phase of the mission. | Explanation: This was a simpler but less feasible approach, where a single huge rocket (or a particularly large rocket stack) would send the lander straight to the Moon. The inefficiency comes in taking a comparatively huge rocket down to the Moon and back up, requiring a lot more fuel than a separate lander. It avoids having to 'park' items in orbit that it must later dock once more with, but then increases the mass that must land on/take off from the lunar surface, without being useful during this phase of the mission. | ||
− | |||
− | |||
In reality, this was the approach imagined for the Nova C-8 rocket as an Apollo alternative. This was also the approach used in {{w|Destination Moon (comics)|Destination Moon}} from {{w|The Adventures of Tintin}}, with the fuel problem addressed by using a nuclear reactor for much of the trip—which would be a really bad idea in reality since "rockets have a tendency to explode"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHvR1fRTW8g]. Science fiction movies have frequently depicted this method of landing, either before the dawn of the actual Apollo program or (to save plot-time ''or'' by using a fictional increase in rocket capability) in more futuristic settings. | In reality, this was the approach imagined for the Nova C-8 rocket as an Apollo alternative. This was also the approach used in {{w|Destination Moon (comics)|Destination Moon}} from {{w|The Adventures of Tintin}}, with the fuel problem addressed by using a nuclear reactor for much of the trip—which would be a really bad idea in reality since "rockets have a tendency to explode"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHvR1fRTW8g]. Science fiction movies have frequently depicted this method of landing, either before the dawn of the actual Apollo program or (to save plot-time ''or'' by using a fictional increase in rocket capability) in more futuristic settings. | ||
Line 50: | Line 48: | ||
Status: Rejected because, humorously, "I guess no one thought of it?!" | Status: Rejected because, humorously, "I guess no one thought of it?!" | ||
− | Explanation: This is a fictional and impractical scenario. The Moon cannot propel itself and cannot alter its orbit to rendezvous with a spacecraft. | + | Explanation: This is a fictional and impractical scenario. The Moon cannot propel itself and cannot alter its orbit to rendezvous with a spacecraft. The Moon would also break up because {{w|low Earth orbit}} is within the {{w|Roche limit}}. Astronauts would theoretically land on the Moon, but the hypothetical fragments of the Moon would make the landing impractical. This would be also bad for the Earth's climate, tides, stock markets and ecosystems. |
− | The | + | The title text imagines the moon coming to ''very'' low earth orbit, low enough to reach with a step ladder. There are many reasons this is wholly impractical, as well as civilization-ending. Dropping a moon on the Earth from 6 feet would likely cover the earth in about 43 km of moon matter (see [[2908: Moon Armor Index]]). If the moon somehow were put in orbit around the Earth at a height of 6 feet, the only difference is that debris would crash into you from the side at a faster velocity. |
− | + | One reason why this option may have been rejected is because it would make it ''too easy'' to reach the moon, as it would also allow the Soviet Union to reach the moon with a modified Soyuz, allowing them to claim victory. The United States benefited greatly from the distance to the Moon, but the Soviet Space Program would likely have benefited greatly from a a closer target. | |
===Factual Mission Profiles=== | ===Factual Mission Profiles=== | ||
Line 69: | Line 67: | ||
:'''Lunar orbit rendezvous''' | :'''Lunar orbit rendezvous''' | ||
:Spacecraft orbits Moon, drops lander | :Spacecraft orbits Moon, drops lander | ||
− | + | ||
:Chosen by the Apollo program | :Chosen by the Apollo program | ||
− | :[Top right panel] | + | :[Top right panel] |
:'''Earth orbit rendezvous''' | :'''Earth orbit rendezvous''' | ||
:Large lander assembled in Earth orbit via several launches, travels to Moon | :Large lander assembled in Earth orbit via several launches, travels to Moon | ||
− | + | ||
:Rejected for requiring multiple Saturn Vs per landing and potentially taking longer | :Rejected for requiring multiple Saturn Vs per landing and potentially taking longer | ||
− | :[ | + | :[Lower left panel] |
:'''Direct ascent''' | :'''Direct ascent''' | ||
:Lander launched from Earth directly to Moon | :Lander launched from Earth directly to Moon | ||
− | + | ||
:Rejected for requiring an unreasonably large rocket | :Rejected for requiring an unreasonably large rocket | ||
− | :[ | + | :[Lower right panel] |
:'''Lunar Earth rendezvous''' | :'''Lunar Earth rendezvous''' | ||
:Moon transits to rendezvous with spacecraft in low Earth orbit | :Moon transits to rendezvous with spacecraft in low Earth orbit | ||
− | + | ||
:Rejected because I guess no one thought of it?! | :Rejected because I guess no one thought of it?! | ||