euroluna

Hi, this is Palle from the Euroluna Team. Thought I would say hello, and see how this goes!

As a team comment, I would like to add, that we have decided that it will be too difficult for us to try to aim for a Lunar Heritage site. It requires a very high degree of precision both on the overfly and landing operation, and on the subsequent move to get close enough to take interesting photos.

A fast look at the Dnepr page in Wikipedia indicates that it can bring 550 kg to Trans Lunar Injection orbit (with the 4th stage). A braking operation is then needed to get to lunar orbit, and then a landing operation. A rough estimate would be a need for a delta V of 2400 m/s. Rocket fuel and motor (of a 5th stage) would then have to stay within those 550 kg, together with the mass of the lunar rover.

Thanks Will. I am still getting used to this. I tried to post a reply on one of the other posts, but it seem to have been lost in cyberspace. :)

This is a comment/reply from the Euroluna Team in the Glxp competition. From ours side, we can see that the timing is beginning to be very tight. Our plan is to get a test space craft launched January 2014, and the main mission December 2014 or January 2015. To my knowledge, not team has launched yet :) All the teams meets next month, and after that meeting it will be clearer how many teams are still in the running.