If the added fuel needs could be solved, are the space shuttles technically capable of reaching lunar orbit?

Question

Do they have enough thrust to do a trans lunar insertion burn on the way out and a braking burn on the return trip?

Answer 1

The shuttle's navigation computers and life support systems could support a mission to the moon easily. With the Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO) pad in the cargo bay, there would be enough supplies for a 16-day mission.

However, as you point out, the ET (external tank) is discarded on the way to orbit. If you could some how dock with a fuel tank, the shuttle could easily travel to the moon and back. 4.5 million pounds of thrust is plenty for TLI and to reenter Earth orbit on the way back.

(The shuttle would have to reenter Earth orbit before landing. The thermal protection systems are designed for a reentry from LEO at 17,500 mph -- not a direct return from the moon at 25,000 mph.)

Another problem you'd have is landing on the moon. The shuttle is not equipped for that sort of landing. So, you'd have to carry a small lander in the cargo bay.

It's a fun idea, but it isn't really practical. It would be a lot easier to launch a proper moon mission using 3 or 4 shuttle missions to carry the pieces of the spacecraft to orbit and then dock them together.

By the way, if you would like to read about a shuttle mission to the moon, read Homer Hickham's book "Back to the Moon". He is a former shuttle mission planner and trainer. He wrote "Back to the Moon" about just such a mission. It's a fun read. Don't take it seriously. Hickham also wrote "Rocket Boys" an autobiographical story about his life and how he became a NASA engineer. It was turned into the movie "October Sky". (Note that "October Sky" is an anagram of "Rocket Boys".)

Answer 2

The shuttle could not survive a reentry directly from the Moon like Apollo did, but it bight be possible to make 2 passes through the upper atmosphere, one to get captured into an elliptical orbit and another to actually reenter, although that has never been done. It would be extremely difficult, requiring hitting the upper atmosphere at exactly the right angle and altitude.

Thrust is not a problem if you have enough fuel. Just burn the engine longer if the thrust is low. What counts is total impulse, which is determined by how much propellant you have. Think of it as thrust times time. 10 pounds of thrust for an hour is as good as 36,000 pounds of thrust for a second. That is because in space you don't need to overcome gravity just to get off the ground.

Answer 3

I was thinking of a whole new approach, How about taking high altitude airliners and modify them for space flight. Using an aperture at the front of the jet engine to turn it into a transformer if you will from jet to rocket. You could put maneuvering thrusters on the lateral and horizontal axis of the plane. and the trick to re- entry is to go very slow as in less then a hundred miles an hour, using the same brakes that are already on the plane with the aperture closed over the front of the jet engine while in space then opening it on re-entry. Boom you could turn every high altitude jet airliner into an every day space passenger transport vehicle.

Answer 4

In a word,,, No

That is a pretty big "if" on the added fuel thing,, it cost 10,000 a pound to put anything in orbit the space shuttle itself is a fairly massive object. besides it would be much easier to build a dedicated spacecraft for a moon mission than retro-fit the shuttle to do the job.

NASA already has one in the works.

Answer 5

Once you escape the atmosphere, even tiny engines can do the job. A small amount of thrust over a long period of time works about as well as one short powerful burn, so, YES, even on maneuvering thrusters only.

Answer 6

The changes you will possibly choose could be so great that it would be much less stressful and greater low value to construct a sparkling rocket from scratch. each and every little bit of gas interior the SRBs and the exterior tank is mandatory to get into orbit, a velocity of 17,500 mph. To get to the Moon you need to achieve 25,000 mph. That needs a lot greater gas. greater gas ability greater weight, which needs greater gas and so forth. greater efficient substantial engines choose greater gas, which needs a greater physically powerful tank, and so forth. to apply greater gas with the prevailing engines you will possibly prefer to rendezvous with yet another tank of gas in orbit. quite different than for the topics of having that there interior the 1st place, you will possibly then ought to connect it up, and that's accomplished on the 2nd via greater than a number of technicians in a hangar in the worldwide. It replaced into no longer designed to be achieved in area. greater complicated is the certainty that the main engines won't be in a position to be restarted as quickly as they have been fired. you choose much greater gas to slow your self down so as that as quickly as you attain the Moon you bypass into orbit, then nevertheless greater gas to interrupt out of lunar orbit and get residing house. yet what in case you will locate greater efficient engines that use a sparkling and more desirable gas that would not take up to any extent further room and could be accommodated interior the prevailing tankage? greater efficient engines produce greater thrust, and greater thrust places greater tension on the form of the holiday. The shape of the holiday replaced into no longer designed to take that so might must be thoroughly rebuilt. you will possibly additionally ought to remodel the warmth preserve textile, because of the fact the holiday woudl return to Earth at 25,000 mph particularly than the 17,500 mph from orbit. the warmth and aerodynamic stress could be previous the needs of the motor vehicle. so which you will possibly ought to do a lot exchange to the motor vehicle you would be greater suitable off designing a sparkling one. a lot the comparable reason human beings do no longer layout automobiles that could bypass the oceans yet build boats for that particularly: the engineering issues are distinctive and require distinctive ideas.

Answer 7

It would be like starting across the desert in a model T.Would u do it .

Answer 8

No