Talk:Explorers on the Moon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	comics Portal This article is in the scope of WikiProject Comics, a collaborative effort to build an encyclopedic guide to comics on Wikipedia. Get involved! Help with current tasks, visit the notice board, edit the attached article or discuss it at the project talk page.
B	This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale. Please explain the rating here.
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the importance scale.
More information: This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-Class status: Referencing and citation: not checked Coverage and accuracy: not checked Structure: not checked Grammar: not checked Supporting materials: not checked To fill out this checklist, please add the following to the template call: <!-- 1. It is suitably referenced, and all major points are appropriately cited. --> |B-Class-1=yes/no <!-- 2. It reasonably covers the topic, and does not contain major omissions or inaccuracies. --> |B-Class-2=yes/no <!-- 3. It has a defined structure, including a lead section and one or more sections of content. --> |B-Class-3=yes/no <!-- 4. It is free from major grammatical errors. --> |B-Class-4=yes/no <!-- 5. It contains appropriate supporting materials, such as an infobox, images, or diagrams. --> |B-Class-5=yes/no

[edit] Reference about...

It's not like I'm an expert on this theme (not even far), but in this line: "However, this rocket provides continuous thrust since the enormous energy produced by the nuclear fission explosions somehow can be released gradually."

Is there any reference to afirm that there's no way (with the current technology) to release gradually the energy of a nuclear fission explosion? --Ferran (talk) 23:14, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Explanation of my edit

I removed the following from the scientific accuracy / inaccuracy section:

Second, if the spaceship truly was accelerating at such a rate, the flight time to the moon would be a matter of hours, not days as depicted in the English version of the book. In the original French version, however, flight director Baxter calls the landing site shortly after the rocket has taken off from the Moon to inform them that it will arrive 'in four hours.' The French dialogue also establishes that the rocket is moving at 45 kilometres per second some twenty minutes before the halfway point, when its maximum speed -- assuming a constant 9.8m/s acceleration -- would be about 57km/s. The rocket would thus be amazingly capable compared to current technology; travelling at ~5 million kilometres a day it would cross the gulf between Earth and Mars in a few weeks.

(1) I don't know where you got the idea that the flight time (in the English version) is days. Professor Calculus's first log book entry (page 32) is dated 3 June, 2345 GMT, i.e. less than 48 hours after they launched and this is clearly many hours after they arrived on the Moon (since by then they have already unloaded the cargo (breaking off for a rest/sleep at one point), walked on the Moon for the first time, and started installing the observatory and assembling the tank).

(2) No justification is given for the assumption that the acceleration is 9.8m/s/s. Yes, it "creates a sort of artifical gravity", but no-one says how much gravity, and in particular, no-one says that it's exactly the same as the Earth's gravity. It could easily be, say, three-quarters as much, which would make the 45 km/s figure perfectly realistic. 91.107.160.101 (talk) 19:15, 18 May 2008 (UTC)