One Step Back, One Giant Leap Forward

2006 ◽  
Vol 128 (05) ◽  
pp. 27-31
Author(s):  
John F. Connolly
Keyword(s):  
Space Exploration ◽  
Lunar Orbit ◽  
Heat Shield ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Velocity Change ◽  
Lunar Landing ◽  
Lift Capacity ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Giant Leap ◽  
One Step

This paper describes the vision for Space Exploration that would return humans to the moon by 2020. Creating architecture for returning humans to the moon requires the comprehension of the physics of spaceflight, knowledge of the hardware that can realize the physics, and an understanding of how these many parts interact and interconnect. The NASA team concluded early in its study that the direct–direct mode would be possible only if a single launch vehicle approaching twice the lift capacity of the Saturn V were available. The three mission modes were compared as higher levels of technology were engaged. The key was to find a workable architecture that involved the least amount of mass. The direct return mission that involved no operations in lunar orbit seems to be the least operationally complex, but it tends to be the least efficient because it moves the largest mass-including the Earth-entry heat shield- the entire velocity change of lunar landing and ascent.

scholarly journals The Lunar orbit paradox

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-146
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Tomic
Keyword(s):  
Inertial Mass ◽  
Lunar Orbit ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Three Body ◽  
Origin Of The Moon ◽  
Force Intensity ◽  
Critical Consideration

Newton's formula for gravity force gives greather force intensity for atraction of the Moon by the Sun than atraction by the Earth. However, central body in lunar (primary) orbit is the Earth. So appeared paradox which were ignored from competent specialist, because the most important problem, determination of lunar orbit, was inmediately solved sufficiently by mathematical ingeniosity - introducing the Sun as dominant body in the three body system by Delaunay, 1860. On this way the lunar orbit paradox were not canceled. Vujicic made a owerview of principles of mechanics in year 1998, in critical consideration. As an example for application of corrected procedure he was obtained gravity law in some different form, which gave possibility to cancel paradox of lunar orbit. The formula of Vujicic, with our small adaptation, content two type of acceleration - related to inertial mass and related to gravity mass. So appears carried information on the origin of the Moon, and paradox cancels.

New Economy in space: Cis-lunar economic circle and analogue simulations in China to the 2061 Horizon

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
guo linli ◽  
blanc michel ◽  
huang tieqiu ◽  
huang jiangze ◽  
yuan jianping ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Cooperation ◽  
Lunar Surface ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
Shaanxi Province ◽  
Lunar Exploration ◽  
Test Field ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Liquid Propellant ◽  
The Earth

<p>    The Moon is sometimes also called the "eighth continent" of the Earth. Determining how to utilize cis-lunar orbital infrastructures and lunar resources to carry out new economic activities extended to the space of the Earth-Moon system is one of the long-term goals of lunar exploration activities around the world. Future long-term human deep-space exploration missions to the Moon, on the Moon surface or using the Moon to serve farther destinations will require the utilization of lunar surface or asteroid resources to produce water, oxygen and other consumables needed to maintain human survival and to produce liquid propellant for the supply of spacecraft on the lunar surface. In complement to exploration activities, Moon tourism in cis-lunar orbit and on the lunar surface will become more and more attractive with the increase of  human spaceflight capacity and the development of commercial space activities. However, the development of a sustainable Earth-Moon ecosystem requires that we solve the following five problems:</p><p>(1)How to design alow-cost cis-lunar space transportation capacity? To find an optimal solution, one must compare direct Earth-Moon flight modes with flights based on the utilization of space stations, and identify the most economical spacecraft architectures.</p><p>(2)How to design an efficient set ofcis-lunar orbital infrastructures combining LEO space stations, Earth-Moon L1/L2 point space stations and Moon bases for commercial tourism, taking into account key issues such as energy, communications and others?</p><p>(3)Significant amounts ofliquid oxygen, water, liquid propellant and structural material will be needed for human bases, crew environmental control and life support systems, spacecraft propulsion systems, Moon surface storage and transportation systems. How to  design in-situ resources utilization (ISRU) of the Moon, including its soil, rocks and polar water ice reservoirs, to produce the needed amounts?</p><p>(4) How to simulate on the Earth surface the different components and key technologies that will enable a future long-term human residence on the Moon surface?</p><p>(5). How to accommodate the co-development of public and commercial space and foster international cooperation? How can space policies and international space law help this co-development?</p><p>    China has made rapid progress in robotic lunar exploration activities in the last 20 years, as illustrated by the recent discoveries provided by the Chang'e-4 lander on the far side of the Moon. By 2061, China will have gone into manned lunar exploration and built Moon bases. In preparation for this new phase of its contribution to space exploration, lunar surface simulation instruments have been built in Beijing, Shenzhen and other places in China. A series of achievements have been made in the field of space life sciences . An ambitious project to establish a large Moon base simulation test field, the Lunar Base Yulin (LBY) project, currently in its design phase in Yulin, Shaanxi Province in China, will allow the verification of key relevant technologies.</p><p>    By the 2061 Horizon, we believe that international cooperation and public-private partnership will be key elements to enable this vision of a new, sustainable cis-lunar space economy.</p>

scholarly journals On the restraint mechanism between the earth and moon

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian DING
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Magnetic Flux ◽  
Flux Density ◽  
Lunar Orbit ◽  
Magnetic Flux Density ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Earth’S Magnetic Field ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Straight Line ◽  
Restraint Mechanism

The moon always use the same side to face toward the earth, but there is a dead angle in the mainstream theory of explaining this phenomenon. That is, it cannot explain why the moon doesn't rotate around the axis which is a straight line to connect the mass centers of the earth and moon. Because the numerous meteorite impact craters on the lunar surface indicate that the moon is completely possible to obtain external momentums and rotate around this axis. This paper proposes a plain explanation, that is, the universal gravitation between the earth and moon as well as the earth's magnetic field have formed a trinity restraint mechanism on the moon. According to this explanation, the moon's rotation can be locked, and the mechanism of lunar libration has been revealed out, which can also confirm mutually with the natural phenomenon that the moon has sought a balance in the swing. In addition, with the help of all kinds of detection data from the Apollo moon landings and other circumlunar spacecraft, as well as the studies and analysis of lunar soil samples, the conclusion is that as far as a whole for the moon, it belongs to paramagnetic substances, and its relative permeability is between 1.008 and 1.03. Although the magnetic flux density of the earth on the lunar orbit has been dropped below 0.0008125 nT or lower due to the impact of the solar wind, but it can be used as a reason to lock the moon without rotating around the axis which is a straight line to connect the mass centers of the earth and moon. If another main reason to cause the existence of this fact cannot be found, even if the magnetic flux density of the geomagnetism in lunar orbit is very small, it also should not be artificially ignored. In this regard, we can artificially change the intensity of the earth's magnetic field, and carefully observe the lunar libration and in the distance between the earth and the moon, to verify the arguments in this paper.

scholarly journals The Apollo Missions

1971 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 125-141
Author(s):  
L. R. Scherer
Keyword(s):  
The Moon ◽  
Apollo Program ◽  
Lunar Landing ◽  
Lunar Material ◽  
Scientific Exploration ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Scientific Experiments ◽  
History Of ◽  
Manned Lunar Landing ◽  
Important Milestone

AbstractIn successfully carrying out a manned lunar landing and return, with both operational and technological objectives, the Apollo program made possible a variety of significant scientific experiments. This important milestone in the continuing quest for knowledge took the eyes, hands, and mind of man, as well as his instruments, to a new world. The activities of highest priority carried out by the astronauts, once the landing had been successfully completed, were to collect lunar material and data, emplace sophisticated experiments, and record man’s impressions and observations.In the missions ahead, scientific exploration of the Moon will be the principal goal. Unique features and sites on the Moon will be visited. New experiments, both on the lunar surface and in lunar orbit, will be carried out, as we probe the Moon’s past and attempt to unravel the early history of the Earth. In so doing, we will also be establishing and defining the possibilities and limitations of man as a space explorer as we extend his domain further in space.

That One Small Step

2000 ◽  
Vol 122 (10) ◽  
pp. 62-69
Author(s):  
Benedict J. Gaylo
Keyword(s):  
Motion Picture ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Lunar Orbit ◽  
Earth Orbit ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Small Step ◽  
Lunar Landing ◽  
Apollo Mission ◽  
Bus Voltage ◽  
Fair Degree

This article highlights that three approaches for the Apollo mission were considered and investigated early in the program: direct ascent, Earth orbit rendezvous, and lunar orbit rendezvous. Direct ascent would entail a direct shot from Earth to the moon, requiring an enormous rocket assembly, named the Nova rocket that required 15 first stage engines and would dwarf the Saturn V eventually selected as the launch vehicle. It also required a massive lunar landing vehicle to return the astronauts from the moon directly to Earth. At liftoff, the first stage burned 15 tons of fuel a second, requiring approximately 50,000 horsepower to power the fuel pumps to feed the engines. The Apollo 13 movie followed the actual flight with a fair degree of accuracy, recognizing that it had to compress four days of real-life tension into a two-hour motion picture. The film dramatized the explosion of the oxygen tank by showing the astronauts being thrown about in the cabin. In reality, the astronauts only heard a bang and then the warning alarm for low electrical bus voltage.

The American spaceport and the power of cultural imaginaries

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S. Nesbit
Keyword(s):  
Space Exploration ◽  
First Century ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Central Florida ◽  
Geographic Space ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
New Frontier ◽  
Constructed Environment

Cape Canaveral, the site of the American space programme launch complex located on the coast of Central Florida, has both a deep history in technological innovation and has been the place for architecturally imagining the new frontier of civilization. The range and trajectory of this new extraterrestrial frontier today resides within this once remote wilderness at the ends of architecture – both at the ends of a disciplinary formation and the physical site that enables the departure from Earth. Cultural imaginaries, collective forms created by culture, such as images relating to the assumed efficiencies of space exploration, construct a political desire for departing the Earth, yet rely heavily on architectural and infrastructural devices that are soon left abandoned on our terrestrial surface. This article moves from the geographic space of the late nineteenth century to the celebrated technological objects of NASA’s Apollo 11 programme for reaching the moon. By tracking the range, escape and return of the Apollo programmes’ constructed environment, the American spaceport reveals an invisible wilderness as an architectural aesthetic formed out of the cultural imagination in the early twenty-first century.

Index to Volume 277

1975 ◽  
Vol 277 (1274) ◽  
pp. 649-649
Keyword(s):  
Orbital Motion ◽  
Lunar Orbit ◽  
Artificial Satellites ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Slight Effect ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Westerly Direction ◽  
Complete Revolution

Dr R. R. Newton has notified the following correction to his contribution. The paragraph at the bottom of page 16 and the top of page 17 should read: The node of the lunar orbit rotates in a westerly direction around the plane of the ecliptic, making a complete revolution in about 18.61 years. This motion, and this time interval, are important in eclipse theory, as we shall discuss in the next section. This motion results almost entirely from the perturbation of the Sun’s gravitation on the Moon’s orbital motion. The Earth’s equatorial bulge, which is almost entirely responsible for the motion of the nodes of artificial satellites near the Earth, has only a slight effect on a satellite as distant as the Moon.

Nickel for Your Thoughts: Urey and the Origin of the Moon

Science ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 217 (4563) ◽  
pp. 891-898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen G. Brush
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Lunar Crust ◽  
Lunar Landing ◽  
The Earth ◽  
History Of ◽  
Siderophile Elements ◽  
Origin Of The Moon ◽  
Manned Lunar Landing

The theories of Harold C. Urey (1893-1981) on the origin of the moon are discussed in relation to earlier ideas, especially George Howard Darwin's fission hypothesis. Urey's espousal of the idea that the moon had been captured by the earth and has preserved information about the earliest history of the solar system led him to advocate a manned lunar landing. Results from the Apollo missions, in particular the deficiency of siderophile elements in the lunar crust, led him to abandon the capture selenogony and tentatively adopt the fission hypothesis.

scholarly journals Intelligent Lunar Landing Site Recommender

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-188
Author(s):  
Anthony Thomas ◽  
Digina Derose ◽  
Sahaya Cyril ◽  
Smita Dange
Keyword(s):  
Space Exploration ◽  
Landing Site ◽  
Soft Landing ◽  
The Core ◽  
Lunar Landing ◽  
Landing Sites ◽  
Core Feature ◽  
Celestial Bodies ◽  
One Step ◽  
Exploration Mission

Space exploration is brewing to be one of the most sought after fields in today’s world with each country pooling in resources and skilled minds to be one step ahead of the other. The core aspect of space exploration is exoplanet exploration, i.e., by sending unmanned rovers or manned spaceships to planets and celestial bodies within and beyond our solar system to determine habitable planets. Landscape inspection and traversal is the core feature of any planetary exploration mission. It is often a strenuous task to carry out a machine learning experiment on an extraterrestrial surface like the Moon. Consequent lunar explorations undertaken by various space agencies in the last four decades have helped to analyze the nature of the Lunar Terrain through satellite images. The motion of the rovers has traditionally been governed by the use of sensors that achieve obstacle avoidance. In this project we aim to detect craters on the lunar landscape which in turn will be used to determine soft landing sites on the lunar landscape for exploring the terrain, based on the classified lunar landscape images.

The cislunar spaceport for the crew delivery to the lunar surface

2019 ◽  
pp. 5-13
Author(s):  
Yury N. Makushenko ◽  
Rafail F. Murtazin ◽  
Dmitry S. Zarubin
Keyword(s):  
Lunar Surface ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Lunar Orbit ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Deep Space ◽  
Deep Space Exploration ◽  
National Programs ◽  
Lunar Lander

The success of the International Space Station project has inspired the partners to review possible steps in space exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit. The Moon, Mars, or asteroids - the priorities of partners’ national programs could be different. Understanding of the deep space exploration viability by the joint team led partners to consideration regarding Cis-Lunar Spaceport which will become a Spaceport and should facilitate the implementation of the national programs. At the present time a concept of the Spaceport located on high-elliptical lunar orbit is being widely discussed. The Spaceport is considered to be a transportation hub supporting deep space exploration programs: missions to the Moon, asteroids, Mars and other natural and artificial objects. Different schemes of crew delivery to the lunar surface using Lunar Lander based and serviced at the Spaceport are compared in the paper. The Spaceport utilization significantly reduces transportation operations time limits and provides conditions for reusable lunar spacecraft implementation. Key words: Cislunar spaceport, high-elliptical lunar orbit, ascent module, descant module, reusable lunar crew vehicle.

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