Email Detail

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "url": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/4I4RWUHX6ZTYPXBMHHCJYD4OLMMOFTTS/",
    "mailinglist": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/",
    "message_id": "[email protected]",
    "message_id_hash": "4I4RWUHX6ZTYPXBMHHCJYD4OLMMOFTTS",
    "thread": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/thread/4I4RWUHX6ZTYPXBMHHCJYD4OLMMOFTTS/",
    "sender": {
        "address": "nb2e (a) amsat.org",
        "mailman_id": null,
        "emails": null
    },
    "sender_name": "Ric Letson, NB2E",
    "subject": "[amsat-bb] Re: how about an amsat moon mission?",
    "date": "2007-10-15T23:18:32Z",
    "parent": null,
    "children": [],
    "votes": {
        "likes": 0,
        "dislikes": 0,
        "status": "neutral"
    },
    "content": "\"It also seems the cost of hardware (HD cameras, still cameras, video\ntransmission hardware...) and getting there would eat up a bunch of that\nprize money.\"\nKenneth - N5VHO\n\n\nI see some huge obstacles that would need to be overcome before an\nundertaking like this could be even considered. Then again, amateurs are\nwell known for being able to overcome obstacles set before them.\n\nThe first obstacle I see is whether you can land the craft on the moon,\nperform necessary diagnostics and then complete all the required tasks\nduring a single lunar day (14.5 days on earth). More specifically you should\nbe aiming for completing the tasks in the early part of the lunar day when\nthe sun is at a low angle. Temperatures vary from 138C during the peak of\nthe lunar day to -153C during the dead of lunar night. I don't even want to\nthink about a temperature swing 14 days long with a variation of ~290C. (I'd\nstay away from aiming for that $5Million bonus based on surviving lunar\nnight and just say that if it happens then we surpassed our own\nexpectations)\n\nThe second obstacle is the selection of individual components. What\nelectrical storage device (NiCd, NiMH, LiIon, Capacitors, etc) are you going\nto use that will survive the temperature and hard vacuum of the moon? What\ncapacitors, resistors, IC's and other components are going to be durable\nenough to perform? The vacuum present on the moon is many times greater than\nthat present at Low Earth Orbit, so great that there are few vacuum chambers\non earth that can even come close (10e-15 atm or 7.6 × 10e-12 torr). At this\nlevel of vacuum plastics & rubbers degrade fairly fast due to outgassing,\nthis includes the materials that our components would be made from. I'm sure\nAMSAT has engineers that handle component selection based upon environmental\nconditions (or lack of environment, hi hi) but it's still something to take\ninto account.\n\nThe mooncast that is required for receiving the grand prize includes\ntransmission of High Definition video from the moon to be received here on\nearth. Even if we aimed to provide the lowest of the HDTV resolutions (720p)\nwe're looking at a real-time data rate of 7-15MBps. I think this part of the\nrequirement is feasible only because there's no requirement for the video to\nbe transmitted in real-time, so we could theoretically store the video\nlocally and retransmit it at a lower data rate. (Anyone want to discuss data\nrate vs. required RF bandwidth? Available frequency bands, or the square\ninverse law and the power necessary to get the signal to earth?)\n\nThere is a separate requirement for near real-time video but it doesn't\nspecify that it has to be in color nor does it specify a frame rate. Wonder\nif they'd consider a black & white stream at 2 or 4 frames per second to be\n\"video\".\n\nThe 360 degree panorama of still photographs could be taken with the same\ncamera that's being used for the HD transmission. Just pull stills at\nspecified intervals as the camera and / or craft does a 360 on the surface.\n\nIn order to cut this post short and summarize my opinion, yes I think that\nthe goal is attainable and within the realm of possibility considering the\nexperience that the various AMSAT teams possess but it would monumental even\ncompared to the launch and operation of Eagle.\n\nRic Letson, NB2E\[email protected]\n",
    "attachments": []
}