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Space Forum / Shuttle / December 2007Communications from the moon?
Given the poor stability of lunar orbits due to the weird gravity fluctuations it has, it seems to me that if we want to communicate with the far side, the only option would be very high towers which could see a long way on the far side, while appearing above the horizon from earth. Just a thought as with the low gravity, a very high tower would presumably be possible, no wind loading, so it seems ideal, but someone here will no doubt shoot down my idea. Brian  SignatureBrian Gaff - briang1@blueyonder.co.uk Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff' in the display name may be lost. Blind user, so no pictures please! > Just a thought as with the low gravity, a very high tower would > presumably be possible, no wind loading, so it seems ideal, but > someone here will no doubt shoot down my idea. Bang! Does the satellite have to be in a fixed-position orbit? Seems to me comsats could be place in a number of high and reasonably stable orbit, at L3 and similar stable points, etc. A tower high enough to see at least a third of the Moon is going to be a navigation hazard and a very major construction project. --Damon Target practice! Greetings all >> Just a thought as with the low gravity, a very high tower would >> presumably be possible, no wind loading, so it seems ideal, but [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > going to be a navigation hazard and a very major construction > project. Why not just lay a cable (3000 km of cable should do - not an unheard of feat here on Earth)? Alternatively just moderately tall towers evenly spaced across the taller lunar terrain. A swarm of mini-sats in irregular orbits but still able to cover 1/3 of the lunar surface at any one time might be doable. Is there a problem with the longevity of lunar-orbiting objects? > --Damon Target practice! REgards Frank Scrooby Yes there is a problem, no doubt one of the reasons there are no mini moons of the moon. Brian SignatureBrian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email. graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them Email: briang1@blueyonder.co.uk ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ > Greetings all > [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > REgards > Frank Scrooby Brian, > Given the poor stability of lunar orbits due to the weird gravity > fluctuations it has, it seems to me that if we want to communicate with the > far side, the only option would be very high towers which could see a long > way on the far side, while appearing above the horizon from earth. There are any number of possible solutions. A very quick, light, and possibly reliable method is a radio network. On Earth we have these things called WiFi and cell phone towers. Why not just lay a few thousand small repeater systems across the moon. They could organize as a network and allow devices on the far side to communicate with a link to Earth on the near side. Look up sensor and mesh networks. > Brian, > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > as a network and allow devices on the far side to communicate with > a link to Earth on the near side. �Look up sensor and mesh networks. other than greater power the locations of far side comm sats need not be in close orbit at all. they could be in any orbit as long as at least one has a view of the far side at all times. satellites are easier and cheaper than land based assets "Brian Gaff" > Given the poor stability of lunar orbits due to the weird gravity > fluctuations it has, it seems to me that if we want to communicate with > the far side There are stable orbits of the moon. The problem is not far side coverage but polar coverage. > Stable circular lunar orbits do exist below an inclination of 39.6º, says > Ely, but they spend so much time near the equator that "they are terrible > orbits for covering the poles." http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/30nov_highorbit.htm SignaturePosted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com > Given the poor stability of lunar orbits due to the weird gravity > fluctuations it has, it seems to me that if we want to communicate with the [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Brian Why not just lay a fiber optic cable on the ground from the "dark" side to the "light" side where you have a radio antenna that faces earth? > Why not just lay a fiber optic cable on the ground from the "dark" side > to the "light" side where you have a radio antenna that faces earth? Yes, why not just. After all, it's just a few thousand kilometers of cable that you just have to deliver up there before you just roll it out. It's going to be just easy! ;-) > > Why not just lay a fiber optic cable on the ground from the "dark" side > > to the "light" side where you have a radio antenna that faces earth? [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > It's going to be just easy! ;-) plus a bunch of antenna towers, no trouble at all........... once the space elevator is working >> > Why not just lay a fiber optic cable on the ground from the "dark" >> > side to the "light" side where you have a radio antenna that faces [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > plus a bunch of antenna towers, no trouble at all........... And a cheap investment, too. Think of all the moon rocks we could gather and just haul back! Every Earthling will want one. Lots of money to be made! > once the space elevator is working Who said it could not be done... just like that. > hall...@aol.com wrote: > >> > Why not just lay a fiber optic cable on the ground from the "dark" [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > Who said it could not be done... just like that. i wonder if removing too many moon rocks could destabilize the moons orbit somehow? > i wonder if removing too many moon rocks could destabilize the moons > orbit somehow? Well, we could replace the mass of those moon rocks with toxic waste, like nuke power plant spent fuel rods, PCBs and such... :-) >> i wonder if removing too many moon rocks could destabilize the moons >> orbit somehow? > > Well, we could replace the mass of those moon rocks with toxic waste, > like nuke power plant spent fuel rods, PCBs and such... :-) Since we are never going back anyway, why don't we put all the spent fuel rods on rockets, and crash them into the moon? > >> i wonder if removing too many moon rocks could destabilize the moons > >> orbit somehow? [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Since we are never going back anyway, why don't we put all the spent > fuel rods on rockets, and crash them into the moon? ahh what of a launch accident? just what we need spent fuel rods crashing on the beaches of florida....... >> Why not just lay a fiber optic cable on the ground from the "dark" side >> to the "light" side where you have a radio antenna that faces earth? [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > It's going to be just easy! ;-) Actually it's not a few thousand kilometers. It might be just a few kilometers (or even less). You don't have to go from the middle of the "dark" side to the middle of the "light" side. More practically, you might have a base on the dark side near one of the poles. All you'd need to do then is run the fiber optic cable just across the polar terminator to a *small* antenna. You'd be surprised how little a couple of kilometers of single mode fiber weights. |
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