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If you pick a low enough orbit, it gives you a lot of freedom to use a lightweight launch vehicle such as a stepladder.
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The current Artemis 4 plan
Gateway
- Two modules launched together to lunar near rectilinear halo orbit (NHRO)
Lander
- Starship lander launches to LEO
- Some large number of starship tankers (or few tankers doing many flights) refuel the lander
- Lander flies to NRHO, docks with gateway
Transport
- Crew launch and fly to NHRO in Orion
- Orion rendezvous with gateway
- Crew land using the lander, do stuff
- Crew ascend to NHRO in lander
- Lander rendezvous with gateway
- Crew return to Earth in Orion
For option 4, they could have used a rope and just pulled it closer.
Makes sense to me. Just move the moon closer. 🤷🏻♂️
IF no one has thought of it, has it really been rejected?
That’s not “fair”! Such an unbalanced relationship.
Damnit, wrong comment
“Potentially taking longer”
Simple! Just change the gravitational constant of the universe.
If you pull the Moon closer to the Earth, gravity will begin to disintegrate it and shred it into kwazillion asteroids that eventually become meteors which will bombard the Earth back to the lava age. Once that is done, the moon doesn’t exist and there’s no need to go to the moon ever again. Problem solved.
“Have your people talk to my people.”
“…but I don’t have any…”
“Well then go get some!”
Because the main goal was to beat the Russians to the moon. They also came up with a plan to fly astronauts to the moon then later devise a way to get them back.
