Table of Contents
How fast does something need to go to orbit the Moon?
Orbital parameters (for orbit about the Earth)
Moon | |
---|---|
Synodic period (days) | 29.53 |
Mean orbital velocity (km/s) | 1.022 |
Max. orbital velocity (km/s) | 1.082 |
Min. orbital velocity (km/s) | 0.970 |
Is it possible to orbit the Moon?
Although a spacecraft can orbit the Moon for a while, it’s just not stable. The tidal forces will cause the spacecraft’s orbit to decay until it crashes. But further out in the Solar System, there are tiny asteroids with even tinier moons.
What is the lowest orbit possible on the Moon?
The lowest orbit achieved would probably be PFS-2, a small satellite deployed from Apollo 16’s service module. It was intended to go into a 55×76-mile orbit (88.5×122 km), but due to variations in the Moon’s gravity field, it made passes of six miles (9.6 km) or less before crashing into the Moon’s surface.
Do all objects orbit at the same speed?
No, satellites that orbit at different altitudes have different speeds. Satellites that are further away actually travel slower. The International Space Station has a Low Earth Orbit, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) above the earth’s surface.
Who has orbited the Moon?
Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin were the first of 12 human beings who walked on the Moon. Four of America’s moonwalkers are still alive: Aldrin (Apollo 11), David Scott (Apollo 15), Charles Duke (Apollo 16), and Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17).
How do you enter the Moon’s orbit?
A spacecraft performs TLI to begin a lunar transfer from a low circular parking orbit around Earth. The large TLI burn, usually performed by a chemical rocket engine, increases the spacecraft’s velocity, changing its orbit from a circular low Earth orbit to a highly eccentric orbit.
Is it possible to orbit the Moon in a 10-meter orbit?
Not as low as 10 meters, no, because the surface of the Moon varies by much more than that. But you can get pretty low orbits. Here for example is an orbit with initial average altitude of 124 km (semimajor axis 1861 km) and stable for 4000 days, or about ten years.
Why do we only ever see one side of the Moon?
We only ever see one side of the Moon because as it orbits around Earth, it also rotates on its own axis at the same speed. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Why is there no wind on the Moon’s surface?
There is no wind or air on the Moon to help “erase” craters, so the surface is covered with the remains of old and new impacts.
Does the Moon rotate on its own axis?
No. The Moon rotates on its own axis at the same rate that it orbits around Earth. That means we always see the same side of the Moon from our position on Earth. The side we don’t see gets just as much light, so a more accurate name for that part of the Moon is the “far side.”