So i'm reading the wikipedia article about the New Horizons mission to Pluto scheduled to arrive in 2015. It mentioned that it only took the craft 9 hours to reach the moon, compared to three days that Apollo 11 took in 1969. So, if we were to send a rocket full of astronauts and equipment to the moon today, would it take only nine hours like the pluto mission craft? Would all that weight slow the escape velocity and make a longer trip? Is modern rocket technology a lot more powerful than it was when we first went to the moon?
Name:
Anonymous2006-05-14 13:28
You read something wrong.
Name:
Anonymous2006-05-14 13:38 (sage)
>>2
"It’ll be the fastest spacecraft ever to Jupiter…13 months after launch," Stern said. "We pass the Moon in just nine hours."
i'd imagine our rocket technology is better today than it was, and while extra weight would increase the force required to attain escape velocity, the escape velocity wouldnt change. once your in space, your mass would impact required force for changes in speed and direction.
Name:
Anonymous2006-05-14 17:03
To go somewhere in space, you first accelerate the first half of the way there, the second half you start decelerating. If you accelerated all the way to the moon (there's not much friction in space by the way so you can go like really fast) you'd smash into it or not be picked up by it's gravity if you like circling it and stuff. I don't, I'd rather speed straight for it and ignite my forward boosters, then I align the ship while letting the AI control the boosters. Landing is still a pain though as the ship will explode if you land too fast. I think there's a way to someone make this easier but when I try it I crash about half the time... also, when I finally manage to land, my mining bots won't find any minerals because I'm in a star system too close to coordinates 0,0,0 :/
Name:
Anonymous2006-05-14 19:54
>>6
I forgot to add. If you use the >>>>> speed (or >>>>?), hold the accelerator and aim for your target -- then, when you are really close, you turn on the autopilot and -- ta-da! You have arrived at your destination hours if not days earlier than it would have been with the autopilot activated all the way... sure, it's a bug but hey, it saves time and time equals credits. No way to bling out your spacecraft without a lot of creds.
>To go somewhere in space, you first accelerate the first half of the way there, the second half you start decelerating.
Lol, no. To get to the moon, the space shuttle accelerates for the first few minutes to escape earth's orbit, then merely coasts across space. Constantly accelerating for days would require enormous amounts of fuel.
This is one of the main reasons it can get to the moon so fast - it's very small. A small satellite is orders of magnitude less massive than a shuttle full of people and equipment, so a lot less fuel can still get it going to much faster speeds. It's not really a matter of rocket technology, it's just a matter of fuel.
Name:
Anonymous2006-05-17 0:39
what is the game being discussed in this thread, i wish to colonize moons.