India’s Vikram lander disturbed the lunar surface the least of all landers
According to an analysis of images taking before and after landing, engineers have concluded that India’s Vikram lander disturbed the lunar surface the least of all landers, due to its use of multiple smaller landing engines.
Presenting the new findings at LPSC on Monday, [ISRO scientist Suresh K] attributed the intriguingly short dust plume to the lack of a central engine on the spacecraft, which resulted in a lower engine thrust during descent. Starting its “rough braking phase” at an orbit of 18.6 miles (30 kilometers) above the lunar surface, when the spacecraft reached 0.4 miles (0.8 kilometers) above its targeted landing area, it switched off two of its four 800-newton engines such that two diagonal engines remained operational all the way until touchdown. The mission used the “least powerful engine till date,” [Suresh] K said. “We’ve observed very less disturbance on the surface.”
You can read their paper here [pdf].
Finding ways to reduce the dust kicked up during landings will be critical for the early missions to the Moon, before landing pads can be constructed. This research suggests that when Starship lands, it should use only its outer engines, and gimbal them sideways, in order to reduce the dust thrown up around it.
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According to an analysis of images taking before and after landing, engineers have concluded that India’s Vikram lander disturbed the lunar surface the least of all landers, due to its use of multiple smaller landing engines.
Presenting the new findings at LPSC on Monday, [ISRO scientist Suresh K] attributed the intriguingly short dust plume to the lack of a central engine on the spacecraft, which resulted in a lower engine thrust during descent. Starting its “rough braking phase” at an orbit of 18.6 miles (30 kilometers) above the lunar surface, when the spacecraft reached 0.4 miles (0.8 kilometers) above its targeted landing area, it switched off two of its four 800-newton engines such that two diagonal engines remained operational all the way until touchdown. The mission used the “least powerful engine till date,” [Suresh] K said. “We’ve observed very less disturbance on the surface.”
You can read their paper here [pdf].
Finding ways to reduce the dust kicked up during landings will be critical for the early missions to the Moon, before landing pads can be constructed. This research suggests that when Starship lands, it should use only its outer engines, and gimbal them sideways, in order to reduce the dust thrown up around it.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Starship going to use engine which are higher up in the stage for touchdown on lunar surface.
From what I read/saw the 3 outer engines on Starship do not move. Only the 3 inner engines are able to gimbal.