• Cavemanfreak@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        That sank into a crater. So we built a third one. That burned down, fell over, and then sank into a crater. But the fourth one stayed up. And that’s what you’re going to get, Lad, the strongest spacecraft on all of the Moon.

          • TheBrideWoreCrimson@sopuli.xyz
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            1 month ago

            - Not to leave the room… even if you come and get him.
            No, no. Until I come and get him.
            - Until you come and get him, we’re not to enter the room.
            No, no, no… etc.

  • veee@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    When one day we get people back on the moon, is there a chance these devices could be brought back online?

      • bamboo
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        1 month ago

        This was a plot point in The Martian which was pretty neat. There was also an episode of Futurama which was also neat

    • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Well, if we have boots on the moon, at that point we don’t need probes like these. At that point you just drop a sensor, or whatever experiment you want directly on the surface.

      • veee@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        I was looking at it from the perspective of all the failed probes we’ve sent and whether or not the lost costs/missions could be recouped or completed somehow.

        • snugglesthefalse@sh.itjust.works
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          1 month ago

          Depends on how long it sits there, the lunar surface has a pretty wide range of temperatures that cause wear, lots of radiation and the regolith is quite abrasive. But realistically by the time something gets there that could put it back it’ll probably not be worth it from anything but a historical standpoint.

          • veee@lemmy.ca
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            1 month ago

            I hadn’t considered the damage from radiation. Thanks for the perspective.

    • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I really don’t understand the tall moon lander strategy… I mean, if you’re going to design it with a high center of gravity, then design it to fall over… Just use two landing legs instead of four, to ensure it falls over the right way. Then you put the solar panels on the side, so that when it topples over they’re facing up.

      I’ve literally done this in Kerbal space program, it’s a pretty reliable landing system if your probe is tall.

  • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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    1 month ago

    This could have potentially happened to Apollo 11, had Armstrong not taken over manually to steer clear of the targeted landing site with some rough areas. Maybe it would have been just leaning and not a big deal, but at the time we had no clear idea what a real landing would end up like. And I would hazard a guess that even though we’ve done a lot over the decades, the polar regions of the Moon are still pretty unknown.

  • Talaraine@fedia.io
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    1 month ago

    Seems Firefly Aerospace has got this all sorted, though. Amazing feat for them last week to have a flawless landing.