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Old 04-May-2006, 10:20 PM
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gaetanomarano gaetanomarano is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob B.
All you have to do to perform a rendezvous is to get the two vehicles into the same orbital plane....
true, but the problem is that the orbital plane will happen only 30 (of 95) days and only for a few minutes (36 minutes if the launch margin is +/-500km.) , then, will be sufficient that the CLV/SM/CEV will need time to change a defective (ECO-like) sensor, and...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob B.
If the LSAM/EDS is in an orbit with an inclination of 28.5 degrees, then there’ll be one launch window per day....
exact, the orbital inclination for a lunar mission will be 28.5, then, one launch window per day, then 36 minutes (max) per day to launch the CLV/CEV, then only 18 "HOURS" in TOTAL (inside the 95 days)

but we must consider that the LSAM/EDS will not wait in the Cape Canaveral's sky... it runs while the launch windows, then...

very very critical!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob B.
I don’t know how long each launch window will be, but I’m sure they’ll be pretty short. There isn’t much margin for error in getting the orbital planes to match....
I agree with you, this is (exactly) the problem of the one-and-half launch architecture

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob B.
By carefully selecting the orbits and the timing, the two vehicles can be placed in orbit separated by a short distance.
true, but with so little and critic launch windows the risk to lose $6 billion of hardware is very high!

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