how long would it take a jumbo jet to arrive at the moon?

Answer 1

I'm going to pass this one to the boys at NASA's Space Shuttle program. They specialize in flying unsuitable spacecraft. Ooh, that's so, so bad. Add one more day on the crisper to my afterlife schedule for that one!!!

Answer 2

A jumbo jet has a cruising speed of 580mph, and a range of 8000 miles.

The moon is 240,000 miles away.

It would be impossible for the jumbo jet to travel to the moon because the engines wouldn't work in space, and also the jumbo jet cannot accelerate to 25,000mph - which is the escape velocity of the earth.

However, to travel a distance of 240,000 miles around the world: Lets assume the jumbo stops every 8000 miles, and the process of refuelling wastes 1.5 hours (slowing down, landing, refuelling and taking off again). This means the 240,000 mile journey would involve 30 refuel stops. This accounts for 45 hours.

Now, lets assume (for simplicity sake in calculation) that the refuel stops are a deviation from the 240,000 mile flight route (to make the calculation easier). Hence, to travel 240,000 miles at 580mph (assuming the atmosphere was perfectly still) would take 414 hours.

Hence, total travel time would be in the region of 449 hours and would involve circumnavigating the world 10 times.

Answer 3

The moon is on average roughly 240,000 miles from earth. Your average jumbo jet has a cruising speed of 640 mph. At that rate it would take 375 hours to reach the Moon, about 16 days.

However, a jumbo jet has a range of about 8000 miles, so it would run out of fuel and fall pretty short of reaching the moon. Besides, a jet turbine engine needs to take in air to produce thrust. Also, its wings need air generate lift; the engines don't have to power to lift the weight of the plane by themselves. Most jumbo jets only fly up to around 40,000 ft (8 miles). After that the atmosphere gets too thin.

So don't expect Northwest or AA to be scheduling flights to the moon anytime soon. If you're serious about getting there, you should look into rocketry.

Answer 4

If the jumbo could fly in space and carried on at the speed it normally flies at, (about 500 miles per hour) it would take 500 hours or 21 days to reach the moon.

Unfortunately a jumbo jet could never get to the moon as an airplane needs to be flying in air. The highest a jumbo can fly is about 6 or 7 miles (about 35,000) feet. The distance to the moon is much further - about 250,000 miles away. Also, gravity would prevent the jumbo leaving the earth's orbit as an object has to be moving at 7 miles per second or 25,000 miles per hour. This is how fast the Apollo rockets had to go!

Answer 5

For the reasons given in the first two responses, it could never make it. However, assuming that the plane could fly a straight line path, the engines could magically work in space, didn't need to reach escape velocity, didn't need to worry about orbital mechanics or any of that other pesky science stuff, and could carry an unlimited amount of fuel, then calculating the travel time is simple math.

The moon is about 240,000 miles from Earth, and jumbo jets travel at about 500 miles/hour (usually somewhat faster, but let's keep the numbers simple), so it's 240000/500 or 480 hours, or 20 days.

Think about the frequent flier miles for THAT trip. :-0)

Answer 6

Well I dont want to be a smart a@! but a jumbo jet is purely an atmospheric vehicle it cant leave the earth its engines need air to breathe so the answer is never

Answer 7

Plus the jets would have to be strong enough to take off and the airframe of the plane would have to be able to take off and rise to an altitude higher than that of the troposphere. higher than their set limits. So that would call for a jumbo becoming a space shuttle. So it wouldnt make sense. Still if you still refer to it as jumbo the plane would need strong enough engines not running off of air to reach atleast at the exosphere of earth and have the power to not be caught in orbit.

Answer 8

It could never happen. A jet turbine engine needs air to run through it, resulting in propulsion. The lack of air between here and the moon would make this impossible.

Answer 9

never. jumbos need lift and it cant be obtained with out air. and even if it did get near the atmosphere it would simply stall as the air near the atmosphere is very thin

Answer 10

It all depends who is flying the jumbo jet in front of you, if it's my husband it could take months he is so slow.........lol

Answer 11

plus the jumbo would not be able to pick up enough speed to leave the earth