Return to the moon

[LunarOne]

Simpo Two said:

LunarOne said:

the vast majority of humankind who have not participated in an orbital manoeuvre have never been in Earth's orbit.

I am in orbit around the sun, but am not in orbit around the Earth.

Indeed.

[Hill92]

Artemis II crew to orbit the moon in 2024 announced:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-651...

Edited by Hill92 on Tuesday 4th April 11:28

[Oldaker]

Hill92 said:

Artemis II crew to orbit the moon in 2924 announced:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-651...

They'll be living there by then

[DaveTheRave87]

Hill92 said:

Artemis II crew to orbit the moon in 2924 announced:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-651...

Wow, must take a long time to plan these things

[TGCOTF-dewey]

Hopefully the female astronaut gets the pulse rifle from the off... Might mean they all come back safe.

[SpudLink]

TGCOTF-dewey said:

Hopefully the female astronaut gets the pulse rifle from the off... Might mean they all come back safe.

It in doubt, ask WWRD? “What would Ripley do?”

[LunarOne]

SpudLink said:

TGCOTF-dewey said:

Hopefully the female astronaut gets the pulse rifle from the off... Might mean they all come back safe.

It in doubt, ask WWRD? “What would Ripley do?”

Hopefully not nuke it from orbit. Without the moon, life on earth would be impossible!

[Vipers]

If any body is remotely interested, and know a little about diving, the big pool they dive in to test things is all done on a nitrox breathing atmosphere, the nitrox gives them longer bottom time for the depth of the pool.

I believe Dr Christian Lambertson was involved in the set up of this.

Nitrox is where the Nitrogen content of air is reduced, and the oxygen is increased, as its the nitrogen that dictates the decompression time, by reducing it reduces decompression time.

I am sure some of our readers are involved in diving as well.

[Steve Campbell]

Not to take this too far off topic, but ref the notes above about fuel weight / Mars......I thought they used "slingshot" for the outer planet missions. Can't they use the moon to slingshot to Mars and reduce the amount of fuel required for the higher velocity created in the slingshot ?

I never saw the moon visits as a stopping point to Mars (eg Earth to Moon, then Moon to Mars journeys) other than possibly proving technology for landing / living in inhospitable worlds.

Edited by Steve Campbell on Thursday 6th April 15:53

[Beati Dogu]

If they do use a slingshot to Mars, it will be via Venus oddly enough.

That said, I expect they'll take the simpler, direct intercept course from Earth to Mars, while both planets are around closest approach. That happens every 26 months.The travel time would be about 6 months. The problem with this flight profile is the astronauts couldn't just come straight back; They'd need to wait around on the surface for the next conjunction over a year and a half away.

If they use a close flyby of Venus (in itself an extremely notable & useful event) they could pick up speed and then head off to Mars. The opportunity for these missions happens more often - every 19 months.It also cuts down the time needed to be spent on Mars to as low as one month. . So while a Venus flyby would have a longer flight time, the astronauts could actually be back home sooner than a conjunction mission. This flyby could be used for the flights to Mars or the return journey

[Wayoftheflower]

Excellent science communicator Destin of Smarter Every Day did a talk to the American Astronautical Society.

Full of interesting history, insight, inspiration and a bit of criticism about how America is going back to the moon.

https://youtu.be/OoJsPvmFixU?feature=shared

[LunarOne]

Wayoftheflower said:

Excellent science communicator Destin of Smarter Every Day did a talk to the American Astronautical Society.

Full of interesting history, insight, inspiration and a bit of criticism about how America is going back to the moon.

https://youtu.be/OoJsPvmFixU?feature=shared

Hmm I watched that a few days ago. His name being Destin, I couldn't help think of this:

[Simpo Two]

Wayoftheflower said:

Excellent science communicator Destin...

Destin A. Shunmoon?

The very title of this thread conjures up wonderful images of 1950s Dan Dare-style astronauts in unfeasibly robust spacerockets landing backwards upon a jagged moon armed with boxy scientific equipment with AVO meter-style dials... love that stuff.

I liked this one so much I bought the book...

Edited by Simpo Two on Thursday 14th December 22:02

[ridds]

[Simpo Two]

ridds said:

What's the clanking noise just before splashdown - retro rockets firing?

[Wayoftheflower]

Very cool to watch, would love to see telemetry of speed and temperature. Was the window in front of the camera "popping" from thermal, pressure loads?

[ridds]

Simpo Two said:

What's the clanking noise just before splashdown - retro rockets firing?

The pops are the thrusters firing.

Still using a banked curve route, as per the Shuttle, to slow the capsule down and manage the heat.

Chute deployment / stability looks like it could be refined.

Steam on splashdown shows just how damn hot the thing gets!

[Eric Mc]

Coming in at 25,000 mph certainly makes things a bit toasty.

[C n C]

I really wouldn't fancy being in that thing coming down with all the clanking from the thrusters, which got very manic at one point around 17:50.

What were the black squares in the bottom of the frame which moved about as the thrusters fired, and eventually seemed to fall off?

Very interesting though.

[SpudLink]

LunarOne said:

Hmm I watched that a few days ago. His name being Destin, I couldn't help think of this:

There was an interview with the head of the ESA a while ago. He had a model of the rocket from Tintin sitting on his desk.