Graham2001
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I've started work on a scenario making use of NASSP loosely based on the Apollo mission in Barry Malzberg's "The Falling Astronauts".
I thought it might be worthwhile to post reports on my progress (or lack thereof) to this forum, at least it may provide help to anyone else trying to write a scenario based on fiction.
I've completed what I like to call the preliminary step, that is, I've read the book and extracted from it any information that might be of use nailing down the mission parameters.
The first thing, is that the mission may be classified as either an H(+) or J(-) mission depending on whether or not an LRV is being carried, I'm considering it to be the first for reasons I'll explain later.
The second is that the mission lasts for seven days with the lunar landing crew spending two of them away from the CSM. For this to work the Trans-Lunar & Trans-Earth flight times cannot be longer than 60 hours (2.5 days)
The third is that the mission seems to use a free-return trajectory, which would suggest that the target area is located somewhere in the Apollo Zone.
Now why do I think an LRV is not been taken. The missions prime objective is to nuke the moon. Malzberg implies these weapons are in the CSM, but it would make more sense (IRL) to carry them aboard the LM.
The lightest warhead I know of is the W54 which weighs about 23kg (50 pounds) and had a yield of between 10 to 250 tons. In man portable form the device would have weight 68kg.
Assuming multiple warheads are being carried sacrificing the LRV (& replacing it with an Apollo 14 MET) seems the most likely option.
Next post, will cover possible landing sites & times of launch if I can figure them out.
I thought it might be worthwhile to post reports on my progress (or lack thereof) to this forum, at least it may provide help to anyone else trying to write a scenario based on fiction.
I've completed what I like to call the preliminary step, that is, I've read the book and extracted from it any information that might be of use nailing down the mission parameters.
The first thing, is that the mission may be classified as either an H(+) or J(-) mission depending on whether or not an LRV is being carried, I'm considering it to be the first for reasons I'll explain later.
The second is that the mission lasts for seven days with the lunar landing crew spending two of them away from the CSM. For this to work the Trans-Lunar & Trans-Earth flight times cannot be longer than 60 hours (2.5 days)
The third is that the mission seems to use a free-return trajectory, which would suggest that the target area is located somewhere in the Apollo Zone.
Now why do I think an LRV is not been taken. The missions prime objective is to nuke the moon. Malzberg implies these weapons are in the CSM, but it would make more sense (IRL) to carry them aboard the LM.
The lightest warhead I know of is the W54 which weighs about 23kg (50 pounds) and had a yield of between 10 to 250 tons. In man portable form the device would have weight 68kg.
Assuming multiple warheads are being carried sacrificing the LRV (& replacing it with an Apollo 14 MET) seems the most likely option.
Next post, will cover possible landing sites & times of launch if I can figure them out.
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