Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Lunar Flyby

nasa.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 262 posts

Re: Lunar Flyby

#71

Post by CookieTonsure »

neverkn0wsb357 wrote: post #69

I wish they would’ve flown by and taken a picture of the Apollo 11 lunar landing site. I think it would’ve been a super cool throwback to the history of lunar exploration; maybe it’s just me but I think it would’ve been really exciting. It would basically be the like visiting a UNESCO (moon?) heritage site.

The main point of the voyage was to see the far side, and also to report on previously-unseen portions of the Moon that hadn't really had human coverage in the past.

Since all the Apollo landings were on the near-side of the Moon, they were in fact less accessible to this crew.

My disappointment lay chiefly in their L.O.S. periods, because in 2026 why does Earth lack operational satellites that could relay comms from the other side? Or a space optical/radio telescope that would benefit massively from the darkness and shielding of a Moon-sized body? No humans necessary for that. Of course, you couldn't power such a craft with solar power...

Re: Lunar Flyby

#72

Post by cbhl »

_august wrote: post #4

Are full size/larger images available somewhere? 1920x1280px seems low. Edit: Found 'em: https://images.nasa.gov/search?page=1&media=image&yearStart=...

To be fair they "only" have a 20 Mbps laser uplink from the capsule to Earth, and that's shared between all the systems and uploading images/video.

Re: Lunar Flyby

#73

Post by bruckie »

monkpit wrote: post #64
jameslk wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> $4 billion per launch lol The US spends almost that much on net debt interest each day (~$3 billion/day[0]). Not that adding to the debt helps at all, but the old proverb about being penny wise and pound foolish seems relevant 0. https://www.cbo.gov/publication/61951

> The US spends almost that much on net debt interest each day Spends, or accrues?

Same thing (for now, at least). The U.S. has only defaulted a handful of times, none that I'm aware of since 1971.

Re: Lunar Flyby

#74

Post by CookieTonsure »

willis936 wrote: post #50
SegfaultSeagull wrote: post #47

Can someone ELI5 how it is one side of the moon is never seen on Earth? The moon orbits and also rotates, does it not?

The gravitational pull of the moon lifts up the ocean to cause tides. Well the Earth's gravitational pull is so strong on the moon that the heavier side of the moon always faces the Earth. This is called tidal locking. So the only way to ever see the far side of the moon is to go there. Humans have gone there before, but almost always during an Earth "full moon", which means the far side is unlit. We do have full ima…

[dead]

Re: Lunar Flyby

#75

Post by rootusrootus »

neverkn0wsb357 wrote: post #69

I wish they would’ve flown by and taken a picture of the Apollo 11 lunar landing site. I think it would’ve been a super cool throwback to the history of lunar exploration; maybe it’s just me but I think it would’ve been really exciting. It would basically be the like visiting a UNESCO (moon?) heritage site.

They would have needed a hell of a lot more camera for that, right? Even the best DSLR with the best lens is going to have a lot of trouble resolving something that small at over 4000 miles.

Re: Lunar Flyby

#76

Post by kube-system »

madrox wrote: post #22

There is something uncanny about the bandwidth and quality of all the artifacts coming from this mission. I've subsisted on photos from the Apollo missions and artistic renditions for so long that seeing the modern, high resolution real thing to be quite stirring in a way I didn't expect. It actually does make me believe that the future could be quite cool.

I cannot wait until we get 4k video of people walking on the surface, kicking up dust.

Re: Lunar Flyby

#77

Post by ashton314 »

Amaze, amaze, amaze!

Loved the Project Hail Mary quote from one of the mission controllers. :)

This bright spot in world news has been good for my mental health and general motivation. Thank you NASA!

Re: Lunar Flyby

#79

Post by oliyoung »

dylan604 wrote: post #37
Almondsetat wrote: post #21

We're so not accustomed to moon pictures taken with "normal" cameras. These almost look like 3D renders to me, it's incredible

Why is normal in quotes? Do you mean visible light vs filtered monochrome with false-color outputs or infrared/radio/x-ray like some other telescopes use? Would that be the abnormal you are referring? The Apollo images were taken with Hasselblad film cameras that were "normal" cameras[0]. [0] https://www.hasselblad.com/about/history/hasselblad-in-space...

I think they mean "consumer" or "off the shelf" as opposed to "custom build for the mission", we've seen iPhone and GoPro photos

Re: Lunar Flyby

#80

Post by hyperbovine »

cbhl wrote: post #72
_august wrote: post #4

Are full size/larger images available somewhere? 1920x1280px seems low. Edit: Found 'em: https://images.nasa.gov/search?page=1&media=image&yearStart=...

To be fair they "only" have a 20 Mbps laser uplink from the capsule to Earth, and that's shared between all the systems and uploading images/video.

260Mbps? https://www.nasa.gov/goddard/esc/o2o/
Post reply on HN