The moon's rotational period is tidally locked to its orbital period, so that, on average, it keeps the same side (the near side) facing the earth. During a lunar month, the moon experiences one day.
Posted on 03/18/2006 4:10:56 PM PST by iPod Shuffle
The Sunday Times March 19, 2006
Nasa to put man on far side of moon Jonathan Leake , Science Editor NASA, the American space agency, has unveiled plans for one of the largest rockets ever built to take a manned mission to the far side of the moon.
It will ferry a mother ship and lunar lander into Earth orbit to link up with a smaller rocket carrying the crew. Once united they will head for the moon where the larger ship will remain in orbit after launching the lunar lander and crew.
The design emerged during a space science conference in Houston, Texas, last week. The plan is part of Nasa’s “Return to the Moon” programme set in motion by President George W Bush two years ago.
Under the project, up to four astronauts at a time will land on the far side of the moon to collect rock samples and carry out research, including looking for water that might one day support a lunar base.
The scale of the missions is much larger than the earlier Apollo programme, which is why Nasa will need two separate rockets to take the mother ship and crew into space.
Some missions will also see manned spacecraft landing in unexplored areas such as the lunar mountains and on the moon’s south and north poles.
John Connolly, manager of Nasa’s lunar lander project, said the system was designed to carry crews to almost every part of the moon’s surface.
“The samples they collect and the research they carry out will help solve many mysteries about the origins and composition of the moon and its suitability as a base,” he said.
The Apollo programme carried out six lunar landings between 1969 and 1972. The feat was a triumph, but the technical limitations of the Apollo craft, plus ignorance of lunar terrain, meant all six missions had to be sent to the moon’s plains.
These regions, all on the near side of the moon, were the only areas known to be flat enough for a safe landing. This has frustrated scientists because the samples collected by the six missions are all similar. They are also thought to be younger than lunar mountain rocks.
The far side — so called because it always faces away from the Earth — was first photographed in 1959 by a Russian probe. In 1968 the astronauts of Apollo 8 became the first to view it directly.
The evidence gathered by such missions was enough to deter any attempt to land because most of the far side appeared to be covered in large craters. Additionally, any craft landing there would be cut off from radio contact with Earth.
Connolly believes, however, that Nasa will be able to overcome such problems by sending a series of robotic probes ahead of the manned missions.
The first of these, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, to be launched in 2008, will map the moon’s surface in detail.
Cameras will photograph the surface, backed by a laser altimeter to create a three-dimensional relief map from which Nasa can identify landing sites.
Then, from 2010, a series of “companion lander” missions will carry out test landings on selected sites to see if they are worth a visit by humans.
The final element will be a system of communications satellites, dubbed the “lunar internet”, so astronauts will be able to relay signals to Earth from any part of the moon.
Connolly said the first humans could arrive as early as 2015, although 2018 was more likely. The agency would then aim to send two crews to the moon each year for up to five years. The programme will cost around £56 billion and may also be used to test technology for any future mission to Mars.
Some have questioned whether the programme will produce enough good science to justify the costs.
Manuel Grande, head of the planetary science group at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, dismissed such fears. “Finding out more about the moon will help us understand where the Earth and moon came from,” he said. “There do not have to be good scientific reasons . . . It’s like going up Everest; we want to go to places like the moon and Mars just because they are there.”
BWAHAHAHA! I love it.
Drowned control to major Ted
Drowned control to major Ted
Take your seat belt off and put your life jacket on
“This is major Ted to Drowned Control
I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
And the car is look very different today
I know numerous people that work at JSC outside of Houston. People that have worked there during the "old days". According to them, NASA is a wreck.
I only wish I could go out there, but I am too old and stuck here.
Quick re-write...
Drowned control to major Ted
Drowned control to major Ted
Take your seat belt off and leave your date for dead.
“This is major Ted to Drowned Control
I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
And the car is look very different today
Oh boy, this could be good parody.
Dear God, please let it be Ted Kennedy!!
If Kennedy were to leave the Earth, the liquor industry would be lobbying for a federal bailout.
LOL. And the gravitational pull that his mass generates as it leaves the planet would cause the Earth would wobble out of orbit.
The moon's rotational period is tidally locked to its orbital period, so that, on average, it keeps the same side (the near side) facing the earth. During a lunar month, the moon experiences one day.
Anybody who spells program as programme is mired in the glorious past of the pre-eminence of science. The space program is to preserve America's pre-eminence in space.
The moon program can land the four astronauts on the moon for up to a year at a time. However, their search for water might be better carried out by a series of drillbots in separate launches.
Said by an experimentalist who is morphing into an existentialist. Not to be confused with a humanist.
“This is major Ted to Drowned Control
I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
And the car is looking very different today
For here
I am trying save my fat ass
Far above the law
Mary Jo is blue
And there’s nothing I can do
The aliens aren't going to like this!
Needs more cowbell.
I have to admit to feeling somewhat guilty when I pop off on this subject. I can't help it. I am angry about what happened. I am angry that NASA continues to get away with it. We could just as easily as not have had another failure on the last launch, but basically lucked out.
I appreciate your comment. I'm sure neither of us gains any pleasure by realizing that what you say seems to be undeniably true.
"Drowned control to major Ted."
for those who don't get it...
Ground control to major tom
The thing that angers me is that in about 60 years we went from the Wright brothers first flight to a moon landing. 40 more years later we've done little else in the way of manned space exploration.
...your eyes are getting heavy. You're feeling woosey. You are... "Blech!" You suddenly feel the urge to get a towel and wipe my shoes off. Once you have you will awaken and not remember any of this.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.