Hello All,

There is a way that universities (as well as other countries) could fly free lunar probes *and* receive the probes' data and images ^without^ having to use a huge parabolic “dish” antenna. (This is a direct outgrowth of United Launch Alliance’s free Atlas V satellite launching program.) Here is how it could be done:

The WorldView 4 satellite (see: http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/11/1...igh-resolution/ ) was launched yesterday from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard an Atlas V, and its Centaur second stage—after releasing seven CubeSat “hitch-hiker” secondary payloads during its second orbit—was fired again to reach escape velocity and dispose of itself in solar orbit (and this was done from a near-polar, Sun-synchronous orbit, with *no* Delta-V help from the Earth’s west-to-east rotation)! With this performance capability, it is obvious that the Atlas V—as well as the Delta IV and the Falcon 9—could easily launch “hitch-hiker” lunar probes (especially if they were launched in eastward trajectories from Cape Canaveral [or from SpaceX’s new Boca Chica, Texas launch site]). Also:

Such lunar probes could use CubeSat spaceframes (particularly the 3U and 6U ones), for which multiple propulsion systems are available or in development (see: www.google.com/#q=CubeSat+propulsion ). The lunar mission trajectories could be [1] Ranger-type lunar impact trajectories, [2] lunar orbits (using a small attached solid propellant retro-rocket or an onboard CubeSat propulsion system), [3] a figure-eight Earth/Moon orbit, or [4] a highly-eccentric, highly-inclined (to Earth’s equator) Earth orbit that periodically passes around the Moon at its far end (Luna III [see: http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/trackind...Luna3story.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_3 ] had this type of orbit). Now:

Trajectories [3] and [4] enable a lunar probe to be operated *without* any need for huge, DSN (Deep Space Network) type parabolic antennas. Arthur C. Clarke pointed out in his 1957 book “The Making of a Moon: The Story of the Earth Satellite Program” that a lunar probe in an Earth/Moon orbit—which passed within 1,000 miles of the Earth after passing close by the Moon—would need only 1/500,000 of the onboard transmitter power to transmit its data and images across those 1,000 miles that it would need to transmit them a quarter of a million miles from the Moon. This low transmitter power requirement would make CubeSat-size lunar probes—which return to the vicinity of the Earth and use simple, non-directional antennas to transmit their stored data and images—entirely practical for countries and organizations that do not have radio telescope-type parabolic antennas or antenna arrays (simple Yagi-Uda and Log-Periodic beam antennas, the same types used with amateur radio satellites, would be sufficient). In addition:

Such “hitch-hiker” lunar probes would also be useful for monitoring the electronic and protonic space weather in cislunar space, the solar wind outside the Earth’s magnetosphere, and the Earth’s magnetotail. They could also be used for imaging (in multiple spectral channels) time-variant lunar phenomena such as the lunar exosphere and “dustosphere,” as well as the Earth/Moon L4 and L5 Lagrangian points, to detect any temporarily-captured meteoric matter that may occasionally collect there. As well:

Small spacecraft of this type could also be used to investigate swaths of space ranging far from the Earth, as Arthur C. Clarke also described in "The Making of a Moon" (a radio telescope could be used to receive their signals). Instead of boosting a probe to escape velocity, the upper stage could shut down just shy of escape velocity, which would result in a peak altitude of millions of miles before the probe and the upper stage fell back and burned up in the Earth's atmosphere.

I hope this information will be useful.

__________________
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