Re: [amsat-bb] Repeater on the Moon

["Robert Oler" <cvn65vf94@xxxxxxx>]

Daniel

A minor nit in a very well thought out piece and one which I happen to agree 
with.

<<The Ranger project tried to land
balsa wood encased instruments but none survived the impact, neither did the
$20 million NASA Mars microprobes survive impact.<<

The Ranger 3-5 probes never got a chance to see if the balsa impactor would 
work.  They either passed the moon at to far a distance or were brain dead 
when they crashed into it.  Ranger 4? did impact the Moon (on the far side) 
but its electronics were fried and the vehicle was tumbling...there is a 
"rare" chance that the electronics in the seperation system "worked" but its 
unlikely.  Without the breaking rocket that the impactors carried the loads 
were well past destruction.

The electronics did work.  A couple of the probes (including 4 I believe) 
were tracked by the beacon in the impact capsule.

I dont know about the Mars impactors...it depends on what failure scenario 
you believe for the Mars Polar lander.

Anyrate I dont think impactors are appropriate for a amateur payload...as I 
said a minor nit.

Robert Oler WB5MZO

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