Question Where is Snoopy?

[dougkeenan]

The LM ascent stage of Apollo 10, now in heliocentric orbit. Any idea what the orbital elements are?

 

[ryan]

If your asking what its condition of Snoopy, its probaply got to close to the sun and disintagrated

 

[Quick_Nick]

If your asking what its condition of Snoopy, its probaply got to close to the sun and disintagrated

:huh: I'm pretty sure you'd have to get past Mercury to do that.
There's no chance there was enough extra fuel for that... right?

 

[dougkeenan]

Perhaps. Someone did some computations for Celestia here.

I took those numbers:

"Apollo 10 LM 'Snoopy'" "Sol"
{
   Class "spacecraft"
   Mesh "LM_asc.3ds"
   Radius 0.0019
   Beginning "1969 05 23 06:00:00" MJD 40364.2500036111
   EllipticalOrbit
   {
      Epoch "1969 05 23 06:00:00" MJD 40364.2500036111
      Period 0.918
      SemiMajorAxis 0.9446
      Eccentricity 0.0945
      Inclination 0.4
      AscendingNode 63.85
      ArgOfPericenter -38.45
      MeanAnomaly 223.65
   }
   RotationPeriod 0.1 # completely guessed
   Orientation [ 90 1 0 0 ]
   Albedo 0.5
}

and threw a DG there, like so:

GL-01eltaGlider
STATUS Orbiting Sun
ELEMENTS 141310270800 0.0945 0.4 63.85 -38.45 223.65 40364.2500036111
PRPLEVEL 0:1.000 1:1.000
NAVFREQ 0 0 0 0
XPDR 0
GEAR 1 1.0000
END

but that put me as shown in the photo, nowhere near the moon. I messed with the numbers a little but couldn't get closer without throwing the orbit way out of whack. :huh:

 

[Quick_Nick]

But that is accurate right? Why should you be at the moon?
btw, remember that elements are only accurate within a 'short' time after the time they are recorded.(assuming the spacecraft will make close enough passes to celestial bodies for them to have an effect on the orbit)

 

[dougkeenan]

My understanding was those elements were derived by placing the LM at its last known position, in lunar retrograde orbit 6:00AM on 23 May 1969. Then all its fuel was exhausted in a straight burn.

I staged the scenario right at 6:00AM (check the clock, it's about ten seconds after). Shouldn't it be closer than half an AU at that point? They're not that fast!

It's probably a wrong assumption somewhere. I'm more Scotty than Chekov, so take my calculations with a grain of salt.

 

[Quick_Nick]

Ah, I see.
I'm no Orbiter elements expert, so what does that first number(141310270800) represent?(seems unusually long)
Also, I found Snoopy! :lol:

 

[myles]

but that put me as shown in the photo, nowhere near the moon. I messed with the numbers a little but couldn't get closer without throwing the orbit way out of whack. :huh:

Wasn't there a discussion about the AMSO launch times being out of sync with the Moon's plane? I think this is Orbiter's fault...

http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=2595&highlight=AMSO

 

[tblaxland]

I'm no Orbiter elements expert, so what does that first number(141310270800) represent?(seems unusually long)

It is the semi-major axis, in metres. The semi-major axis of Earth is 149,597,887,500m so it does not seem unusual.

 

[dougkeenan]

Those are interesting threads, thanks. I still can't imagine such a discrepancy could generate an error of that magnitude but I'm in over my head. I'm going to back up and examine the mission for more details.

 

[n122vu]

Sorry to necropost, but it looks as if dougkeenan isn't the only one interested in knowing...

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/09/20/search-for-apollo-10s-snoopy/?test=faces

 

[orb]

And I didn't think there is a thread for this. More articles:

• Universe Today: The Mission to Find the Missing Lunar Module
• SPACE.com: The Search for 'Snoopy': Astronomers & Students Hunt for NASA's Lost Apollo 10 Module
• collectSPACE: The search for Snoopy: Astronomers and students to look for lost Apollo 10 module
• Discovery News: The Search for Apollo 10's 'Snoopy'

 

[Aeadar]

A most excellent and very Cool exercise.