Comments on: Ispace announces new launch date and landing site on Moon for Hakuto-R lander https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/ispace-announces-new-launch-date-and-landing-site-on-moon-for-hakuto-r-lander/ Fri, 18 Nov 2022 00:10:54 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Edward https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/ispace-announces-new-launch-date-and-landing-site-on-moon-for-hakuto-r-lander/#comment-1369068 Fri, 18 Nov 2022 00:10:54 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=90243#comment-1369068 David Eastman,
Many factors determine the launch rocket, the payload’s mass, the mission profile, and whether it is manned or robotic. My guess is that the difference in price between the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy had a lot to do with this mission. SpaceX may have had an edge in the choice of rocket because of the ease of availability given by reusable rockets for customers.

Perhaps, for this mission, several tens of millions of dollars can be saved by being more patient on the transit time. CAPSTONE’s transit was similarly long.

]]> By: David Eastman https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/ispace-announces-new-launch-date-and-landing-site-on-moon-for-hakuto-r-lander/#comment-1369033 Thu, 17 Nov 2022 18:14:53 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=90243#comment-1369033 Wow, a five month transit to the moon. It’s interesting that they seem to feel that a long duration transfer with multiple small maneuvers is the better choice than just packing in enough dV to capture at the moon from a Hohmann transfer. Falcon 9 might be a bit light for a normal Hohmann transfer on this payload, but Falcon Heavy could do it easily I would think.

]]>