What Is the Equivalent of Fuel to Go to the Moon
Apollo eleven: Four things y'all may not know nigh the get-go moon landing
Prototype source, NASA
Apollo xi astronaut Michael Collins practises in the simulator in June 1969 - one month before launch
Fifty years on, the Apollo Moon programme is probably even so humankind'southward single greatest technological achievement.
On sixteen July 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were strapped into their Apollo spacecraft on top of the vast Saturn V rocket and were propelled into orbit in merely over 11 minutes. Four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin became the kickoff humans to set up pes on the lunar surface.
Here's a visual guide to 4 lesser-known facts nigh the history-making mission.
one. Saturn V is still the largest and most powerful rocket e'er built
Standing at more than 100m (363ft), the Saturn V rocket burned some 20 tonnes of fuel a second at launch. Propellant deemed for 85% of its overall weight.
"I think we were all surprised at how strong that affair was," Apollo 8 astronaut Frank Borman said in 2011.
Astronaut Charlie Duke likened the feeling of stage separation - when parts of the spacecraft are jettisoned - to a "railroad train crash".
Interactive: Explore Apollo in 3D
-
Saturn V
Standing more than 100 metres tall, the Saturn V rocket blasted astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins into space in just over eleven minutes.
-
Lift off
Phase I'southward five rocket engines burned xx tonnes of kerosene and hydrogen fuel per 2nd to power Apollo to 42 miles to a higher place the Earth.
-
Second stage
Stage 2 fired to carry Apollo through the upper atmosphere at a speed of fifteen,000mph.
-
Across Globe
Stage three fired twice - once to get Apollo into orbit - and and so once again to propel the spacecraft away from World towards the moon at a speed of 25,000mph.
-
Apollo
The three astronauts sat in the Command Module. Backside came the Service Module containing engines, fuel tanks and fuel cells.
-
The Lunar Module
The delicate moon landing craft was carried in phase three, merely behind the Command and Service Module.
-
Lunar manoeuvre
Apollo performed a mid-flight flip to dock with the Lunar Module, before turning once more and heading toward the Moon.
Image source, NASA
Saturn V: Engineering on a vast calibration
Saturn V weighed 2,800 tonnes and generated 34.5m Newtons (7.7m pounds) of thrust at launch.
That'southward plenty to elevator 130 tonnes into World orbit, and send 43 tonnes to the Moon - the equivalent weight of virtually iv London buses.
2. Apollo's coiffure compartment was about the same size as a large car
Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins spent eight days together travelling about half a million miles to the Moon and back in a space roughly the size of a large car.
The astronauts were strapped into bench-like "couches" during launch and landing in the Command Module, which measured iii.9m (12.8ft) at its widest point.
It was no identify for the claustrophobic.
Image source, Getty Images
The Command and Service Module of Apollo 17 pictured from the Lunar Module
Backside the Command Module came the Service Module, which contained fuel tanks and engines.
The Lunar Module (LM or "Lem") was carried in a compartment behind the command and service modules.
The BBC's James Shush takes a expect inside the Apollo Command Module
Having left Earth, Apollo performed a mid-flight plow to dock with the Lunar Module, which was carried into space behind the Command Module, before turning again and heading for the Moon.
three. African-American women skilled in maths helped to piece of work out the route to the Moon
Their work processing information and performing complicated calculations was disquisitional to the success of the space programme.
Epitome source, NASA
Katherine Johnson, pictured here in 1962, spent 33 years working for Nasa
When the first computers appeared, many of Nasa's early programmers and coders were these women.
The film Hidden Figures, released in 2016, told the story of these maths wizards, bringing their stories to a mass audience for the start time.
One woman in particular, Katherine Johnson, became known for her work calculating trajectories for the first Americans in space, Alan Shepard and John Glenn, and afterwards for the Apollo Lunar Module and Control Module on flights to the Moon.
Apollo xi'southward flight path took the spacecraft into Earth orbit eleven minutes afterward launch.
But over ii hours later, during its 2d orbit, the rocket's third stage fired again to boost Apollo towards the moon - the then-called Trans Lunar Insertion or TLI.
The TLI placed Apollo on a "costless-return trajectory" - ofttimes illustrated as a figure of eight shape.
This course would have harnessed the ability of the Moon's gravity to propel the spacecraft back to Earth without the need for more rocket fuel.
However, when Apollo 11 neared its destination, astronauts performed a braking manoeuvre known as "lunar orbit insertion" to slow the spacecraft and cause it to go into orbit around the Moon.
From there, Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the surface.
four. No-ane knows where the Apollo 11 module is now
A total of 10 lunar modules were sent into space and 6 landed humans on the moon.
Paradigm source, NASA
Apollo eleven'due south Lunar Module 'Eagle' begins its descent to the lunar surface
Once used, the ascension stages of the capsules were jettisoned and either crash-landed on the moon, burned up in Earth's atmosphere, or - in one example - went into orbit around the Sun.
The starting time two Lunar Modules were used in test flights and burned up in Earth'due south temper.
Apollo 10'southward Lunar Module, which went to the Moon simply didn't land, was jettisoned into space and went into orbit around the Dominicus.
Apollo 13's Lunar Module performed a vital "lifeboat" role when that mission had to be aborted following an explosion.
Near of the other modules - once they had safely returned astronauts back to the Command Module in lunar orbit - were dispatched to crash-land back on the surface.
The crash sites of most are known - but no-ane is quite sure where the ascent stages of Apollo eleven'southward module Eagle or Apollo xvi's module Orion concluded upward.
By Tom Housden, Paul Sargeant, Lilly Huynh, Gerry Fletcher and Steven Connor
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48907836
0 Response to "What Is the Equivalent of Fuel to Go to the Moon"
Post a Comment