#moonmissions

The Moon has always fascinated us, serving as a source of inspiration and wonder. As humanity sets its sights on returning to the lunar surface, understanding the lunar environment is crucial for the success of these missions. The Moon's harsh environment poses unique challenges to spacecraft design and operation. Let's explore these challenges and how they impact spacecraft.

The lunar environment: key features

Lack of atmosphere:

The Moon has no significant atmosphere. This means there is no air to slow down incoming spacecraft, leading to high-speed impacts unless carefully managed. The absence of an atmosphere also means that temperature regulation is a major challenge for lunar missions.

Extreme temperatures:

The Moon experiences extreme temperature variations, with daytime temperatures soaring above 250°F (120°C) and nighttime temperatures plummeting to -280°F (-173°C). Spacecraft must be equipped with special materials and systems to handle these fluctuations.

Dusty surface:

Lunar dust, or regolith, is abrasive and can damage equipment and surfaces over time. It can infiltrate machinery and is difficult to remove, which can impair spacecraft functions and pose a risk to astronaut health.

Microgravity:

While the Moon's gravity is only about 1/6th that of Earth's, it still affects spacecraft design. Engineers must account for this reduced gravity when designing landing and mobility systems.

Impact on spacecraft design

Designing spacecraft for lunar missions requires addressing these environmental challenges:

Thermal control systems:

To manage the extreme temperatures, spacecraft are equipped with advanced thermal control systems. These systems often use radiators, heaters, and thermal blankets to maintain optimal internal conditions.

Robust landing systems:

With no atmosphere to slow descent, spacecraft rely on retro-rockets and other technologies for soft landings. Accurate navigation and propulsion control are essential to avoid hard impacts.

Dust mitigation strategies:

Engineers are developing coatings and cleaning techniques to prevent lunar dust from damaging spacecraft. New materials are being tested to resist abrasion and minimize dust accumulation.

Radiation protection:

The lack of atmosphere also means higher exposure to space radiation. Spacecraft must include radiation shielding to protect sensitive electronics and, if crewed, to safeguard astronauts.

Future missions and considerations

As space agencies and private companies plan more lunar missions, including establishing lunar bases, they must continuously innovate to overcome these challenges. New technologies, materials, and strategies will be key to successful long-term lunar exploration.

     Most importantly, the effects of moon missions changed our world culture in such a positive way.  We all need to understand how everything progressed because of these successful results of landing on the moon and furthermore. The major details which are being discussed are about true events that have occurred in American and human history. According to National Geographic News: “The continuing interest in the moon, according to Dick, is one of the reasons President George W. Bush’s Vision for U.S. Space Exploration—outlined in a speech at NASA headquarters on January 14—is so important. The vision, which has been widely criticized for its funding, appropriateness, and time line, calls for a return to the moon no later than 2020. The idea is to foster further scientific study of Earth’s satellites and to use it as a stepping stone to get to Mars and beyond.” It only makes sense that we need to keep our goals high to create even bigger goals after we succeed with these original goals. The world is evolving because of all of the technology that we recently got our hands on.

     Because we landed on the moon in the year of 1969, we learned a lot more about science.  This is from an eye opening article called Moon landing taught us much about science – and ourselves: “OK, it wasn’t technically a planet. Just Earth’s own moon. But, for a brief moment in our human timeline, absolutely everything changed. July 20 will mark the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11’s landing in the Sea of Tranquility and Neil Armstrong’s historic hop, just over six hours later, onto the moon’s surface. For those who saw it live on TV, the flight of Apollo 11 was a once-in-a-life-time experience. But, with the benefit of 40 years’ hindsight, did it change us? Make us look at life differently? Give us tangible benefits?” It is very logical to understand that the answer to that question is yes! Now that we have landed on the moon, and plan to land on the moon again in 2020, we can plan to build a space station on the moon. This will help our planet to evolve and appreciate life in a more positive way.

     After we return to the moon again and build a space station as a one world government, Earthlings will eventually discover and overcome the obstacles for traveling to Mars. By then, technology in our world atmosphere is advanced, and experiments with Mars mission satellites give back real data to discover a way to establish a colony on the planet Mars. Scientists find it very interesting that anything in this universe is possible if we put our minds to it. Eventually there is going to be Earth colonization with Mars, and some of our children’s offspring with be involved with this.

       The Appollo 11 Mission is forever remembered for being the beginning to a whole new discovery of space travel. In addition to A Lunar Odyssey, “The astronauts also planted an American flag on the lunar surface. The rod to hold the flag out horizontally would not extend fully, so the flag ended up with a slight waviness, giving the appearance of being windblown. The flag itself was difficult to erect, it was very hard to penetrate beyond about 6 to 8 inches into the lunar soil.” After all, so many people assume that the photograph of Appollo 11 is fake because of the extension problem of the flag. Of course, it is easy to see that the majority of people lack faith in humanity and the progression of science.

     Nonetheless, if our citizens do not take into consideration the importance of the dates in history of traveling to the moon, than humanity is in a struggle for adolescents’ awareness of finding solutions to travel further in our galaxy, and maybe even traveling to another galactic constellation. These possibilities are ruthlessly available to us if we understand what has happened in our past with NASA, and some of us find it hard to believe that they are providing us with all of the truth in major and minor details. Space travel is eagerly the most important key concept of Earth evolution. Let the world know all of the information about missions to the moon, and in the near future we are ready for blast off. The government does not provide its citizen with enough information about what to expect in space travel via news source broadcasting. Why keep the citizens uneducated, and why keep secrets from the people of this country? Some of us thrive on researching hidden astronomical information about our government, and about the higher power authorities. In addition, it is best to close this by saying that we are not alone.  Indeed, some of us believe that we are being given this new present technology from extra-terrestrial humanoids. Take these citations into consideration please: “There have been a number of images, both still and moving of the Astronauts on the Moon, and other NASA missions which seem to show UFOs, and as we know Astronaut Gordon Cooper was open about seeing unknowns on numerous occasions. According to a taped interview by J.L. Ferrando, Major Cooper said: “For many years I have lived with a secrecy imposed on all specialists in astronautics. I can now reveal that every day, in the USA, our rad instruments capture objects of form and composition unknown to us. And there are thousands of witness reports and a quantity of documents to prove this, but nobody wants to make them public.” Again, what is NASA afraid of revealing to the public citizens of the United States about our moon missions? We deserve to know what is going on around this world.

  References

Roach, J. (2004, July 18). Apollo Anniversary: Moon Landing “Inspired World. National geographic news. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0714_040714_moonlanding_2.html.

Przybys, J. (2009, July 5). Moon landing taught us much about science – and ourselves. Review journal. Retrieved from http://www.reviewjournal.com/life/moon-landing-taught-us-     much-about-science-and-                ourselves .

Greene, N. (Date Unknown). Apollo 11 mission. Kennedy’s dream. Retrieved from http://space.about.com/cs/missions/a/apollo11.htm