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What kind of flight profile did China take? I assumed it would take 3 days to get to the moon. I think that’s how long Apollo took. But they launched on Monda
by blackrock 6y ago
What kind of flight profile did China take?
I assumed it would take 3 days to get to the moon. I think that’s how long Apollo took. But they launched on Monday, and won’t get into lunar orbit until Saturday, which is 5 days.
But being that this is a robotic mission, that expediency wasn’t as important. And to save fuel, they might have circled around the Earth a few times to get a gravitational assist to launch to the moon.
Asking for a friend: A lunar flight planning physicist
- moonbug 6y agohohmann transfer orbit, I read somewhere.
- rozab 6y agoHohmann transfer is for going between two bodies which are both orbiting a third, central body no?
- noitpmeder 6y agoI believe a Hohmann transfer is just a method of changing between two orbits of a central body. In this case it's just moving from it's intial orbit to the Moon's orbit, which are both around the Earth. The Hohmann transfer does not include the capture burn that is required to enter a sustained orbit around the Moon. Disclaimer, I'm just a KSP fan, so feel free to correct any of the above. Had to make an effort to use Moon, not Mun.