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Author
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Topic: Apollo 10 and the moon's gravitational field
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Explorer1
Member Posts: 218
From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Registered: Apr 2019
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posted 04-27-2020 10:51 PM
  
One of the reasons for the Apollo 10 mission was to test or map the moon's uneven gravitational field. Did Thomas Stafford and Gene Cernan "map" the gravitational field's anomalies in the region of the anticipated landing? And did the uneven nature of the gravitational field in anyway affect their descent? I presume that the affect of an uneven gravitational field is that the rate of a lander's descent could unpredictably increase if the field was at one level at a specific altitude but then dropped off if there was a dip in the field. Is this correct? Also, is there a theory as to why the lunar core generates an uneven gravitational field? |
oly
Member Posts: 1035
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 04-28-2020 04:08 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Explorer1:
Did Thomas Stafford and Gene Cernan "map" the gravitational field's anomalies in the region of the anticipated landing?
Yes, using a paperclip suspended on a string. quote:
...affect their descent?
Yes. quote:
Also, is there a theory...
Yes, Mascon (mass concentration). Since their identification in 1968, the origin of the mascons beneath the surface of the Moon has been subject to much debate, but is now regarded as being the result of the impact of asteroids during the Late Heavy Bombardment. |
BA002
Member Posts: 185
From: Utrecht,NL
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 05-24-2020 03:53 PM
I am currently studying Apollo 10 through the transcripts of the Apollo Flight Journal. As far as I know the crew didn't map the mascons as such, but of course they did perform the regular star sightings and their orbit was tracked from Earth as well. That way, slight irregularities in their orbit were observed and analyzed and these findings were then incorporated into the equations used for Apollo 11 and further flights. |
Explorer1
Member Posts: 218
From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Registered: Apr 2019
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posted 05-25-2020 11:42 PM
Thank you. | |
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