Talk:Main Page
From TeamCringely
The aim of the mission(s) is to: a) land a device on the moon b) have it move about on the moon c) capture Hi Def digital images from the moon d) Transmit those images from the moon to Earth e) collect the prize!
To achieve a) above, we need to know the general dimensions of the device (size, weight & Mass) this will help to determine how we get it too the moon. Basically Earth to lunar transit is comprised of 3 stages. First Escape Earth's gravity well, second transit Earth orbit to Lunar Orbit, finally Lunar descent and deployment. Knowing the basic parameters of the device it self will help to drive the parameter selections for the rest.
Does anyone know the basic dimensions of the device we intend to land on the Moon?
I am not a rocket scientist but I think we can get a a rough idea of the high end. 1) If we assume that we want to make money on the project then $20M is the Gross Input. If we have 20 shots, then we have $1M per moonshot. 2) As a high end estimate for payload, we can assume the whole $1M goes just to getting the payload to the moon. Getting to the moon must be at least as much as getting into high earth orbit. Current costs per lbs apply (est $10-$15K from here) That puts our payload to the moon at a max of 100 lbs and that does not include that we need fuel speed up to break the earth's orbit and to slow the payload down (unless we can think of a way to make a high speed landing work)
So... to first order, unless we are planning on spending more that the $20M to win the prize, OR we have some lower cost method to get into orbit (and beyond), I think we can be pretty certain that we've got to limit ourselves to under 100lbs
I don't know if we are going to go as fast as the Apollo trips but here you can see that it took about 110 hours to go the .25Mmiles from earth to the moon -- roughly 2300 mph -- probably not the kind of speed that could be crash landed.
Thoughts about Reference Mission
The Reference Mission should be a very high level description of our mission. Rereading the 2 I, Cringley columns, it is becoming apparent that Bob & the Russians have a pretty good idea of the basic outline of the mission. We can be pretty sure that our Earth to Low Earth Orbit will be handled by a Mig 23. We can be fairly certain that our transit craft will be a carbon tube weighing a bit over 1000kg. Bob has mentioned a 30 Kg payload a couple of times so I think we can assume that is our payload size. We can also assume that our payload is not going to land on the moon's surface gently.
Major question: are we doing 20 shots or just 1? In other words do we have 20 rovers each weighing around 30 Kg or do we have to fit all 20 into a single 30 Kg payload? I am starting to think it is the later.
BOB can you clarify a bit?
Wiki use
Everything that is on the main page and talk page would probably be better on a more specific pages. The main page is more useful as a portal to the rest of the project than containing the entire project. See the SEDS Wiki or the English Wikipedia for demonstrations of this idea on successful wikis, both of which I'm an admin on. Brockert 22:02, 28 October 2007 (EDT)
I concur, the size and scope of the main page are getting out of hand. I've contacted Robert X. Cringely and Ken Chestnutt to volunteer and solicit guidance. Should a response fail to appear within a week then I shall commence to make specific editing proposals here. – ConradPino 14:12, 6 June 2008 (EDT)
