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> Once CosmoCube’s data is back on Earth Did I miss it or did they fail to explain how that would work? Does it just slowly move around the moon so it gets its
by avisser 2mo ago
> Once CosmoCube’s data is back on Earth
Did I miss it or did they fail to explain how that would work? Does it just slowly move around the moon so it gets its 1000 hours of observation, then eventually comes out of the EM shadow?
Or is there some final boost that pushes it?
Will it crash into the moon eventually?
- ericbarrett 2mo agoIt would orbit the moon as a satellite, presumably in a fairly tight and low orbit; the article says a 2 hour period, which is < 100 km above the surface. About half the time it would be on the "far side" and Earth would be blocked by the Moon below it. The other half it would have line-of-sight with Earth and be able to communicate, but also exposed to radio pollution. Presumably the mission designers would hibernate the experiment for this period. It will almost certainly hit the moon one day. The moon has many mascons (mass concentrations, a.k.a. lumps) and destabilizes anything orbiting it over a long period of time. Or even a short period of time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_16#Particles_and_Fields_Subsatellite_PFS-2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_16#Particles_and_Fields... But an orbit can be chosen to give at least a couple years, which is the mission goal.
- euroderf 2mo agoI remember mentions of mascons during the Apollo missions. They were at the time a bit mysterious but their existence and influence were known.