Re: Lunar combat (was: Re: [OT] Moon Dragon Review?)

Jerry Han wrote:

> Anybody want to actually do the calculations of the energy transfered
to
an
> airframe at impact on the moon versus that on the Earth?  I don't have
any
> of my physics textbooks here at work.  (Oerjan?  (8-) )

While I have my physics textbooks at home, I have problems seeing them
(or
the 'puter, for that matter) - I operated my right eye to get rid of
(half
of) my near-sightedness yesterday, and don't expect to recover the next
few
days or so :-/ I'm sort of half-blind right now.

Anyway, as your question is formulated now - calculate the energy
transfer
on impact <g> - well... all of the kinetic energy will go into wrecking
your craft when it hits the ground, regardless of where you are :-)

However, your kinetic energy will of course vary a lot - depending on
the
strenght of the gravity well, how far up you started and your initial
downward vector (if any), the air friction (or lack thereof - and this
depends on how your craft is shaped and which aspect it turns in the
downward direction), etc. I'll try to do the calcs when I my eye gets
better (unless someone else beats me to it, of course!).

Later,

Oerjan Ohlson

"Life is like a sewer.
What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
- Hen3ry