/sci/ - Science & Math

I know it’s an overused cliche but I really wish Apollo continued on to mars. I also really wish the N1 either worked sooner or wasn’t canceled in 1974.

Could you imagine if Apollo-Soyuz was held on the lunar surface? Or if the ISS was a joined Russian-American base on Mars instead? Damn.

Bros. Real talk. What would be a more “realistic” scenario for For All Mankind?

>>14668751
1/2
Yes, but with a 60 ton launcher.
Launch 1 carries the LK. I assumed the LK would sit atop a “vanilla” Block D braking stage, as this would help it enter low lunar orbit and also land. LK + Block D masses 23.76 tons, and has a total Delta V of 3.3 km/s. Block D has to slow the LK to 100 m/s before detaching which is basically a lunar landing in and of itself, so we can subtract 1.7 km/s from the original amount. We can also subtract the 0.9 km/s required to slow the LK into orbit. This gives us an extra 0.7 km/s, which can help boost the the stack to the moon.
TLI is 3.2 km/s, so we need a “Moon Boost” stage with 2.5 km/s. I assumed a conservative 5 ton dry mass for the stage, and an isp of 349 seconds - the same as the engine on the Block D.
LK + Block D + Dry Moonboost Stage = 29 tons. With an isp of 349 seconds, you need 31 tons of propellant to get a Delta V of 2.5 km/s, which is needed.
In summary, the full stack would be 60 tons. But this is enough to place the LK and Block D into lunar orbit and eventually land.

Launch 2 carries the crew. The Soyuz LOK also sits atop a Block D. The 9.95 ton Soyuz and the 3.5 ton dry/18.2 ton wet Block D mass 13.45 tons dry/28.15 tons wet. This gives a delta V of 2.5 km/s.
The Soyuz LOK already can leave lunar orbit on its own, but the Block D would use 0.9 km/s to slow it into lunar orbit. This gives us 1.6 km/s to help with the initial TLI.
Combining LOK + Block D with the initial “MoonBoost” stage gives a dry mass of 33 tons. With an isp of 349 seconds, you’d need twenty tons of propellant to get the needed 1.6 km/s to start the TLI burn. The Block D would finish then fire again to enter lunar orbit.
The total mass of the “Lunar Soyuz” stack is 53 tons - slightly less than the LK Landers’

Long story short, the Soviets would need a big rocket, but not the N1. 60 tons to LEO is a lot, but it’s also a lot less than the N1.