Hitting a golf shot off the moon..

In article ,
Chris wrote:
Could anybody let me know if it would be possible to hit a tee shot
from the surface of the moon (forget about space suits, just imagine
it was a normal golf shot), that would sent the golf ball into orbit?

No. Orbital velocity for the Moon is around 1700m/s, which is beyond the
muzzle velocity of a high-velocity rifle, never mind a golfer. (The very
hottest rifles typically deliver around 1200m/s, if memory serves.)
--
"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend." | Henry Spencer
-- George Herbert |

Good morning,

Hail, Michael Smith! We who are about to post salute you.

[...]
The other problem is that an initial impulse from the surface can not
result in an orbit which does not intersect the surface. To achive
orbit the golf ball would have to make a circularisation burn (or be
whacked by another golf club) after the first half an orbit.

Bounce it off the (solar)windmill ;-)

Take care,
cb

--
Christopher A. Bohn ____________|____________
http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/~bohn/ ' ** ** " (o) " ** ** '
"I wish to God these calculations had been executed by steam!"
- Charles Babbage

Joe Strout wrote:
In article ,
(Chris) wrote:

Could anybody let me know if it would be possible to hit a tee shot
from the surface of the moon (forget about space suits, just imagine
it was a normal golf shot), that would sent the golf ball into orbit?

No, or at least, not in the sense you probably mean. Even if you could
impart enough velocity to it (and I have no idea how hard that would be
to do), any orbit ultimately intersects the starting point. Since it
starts on the ground, that means it would intersect the ground.

Even if it diddn't, low lunar orbit is unstable, and it will be perterbed
so that it does.
In theory, you could hit the ball to one of the L points.

In article ,
says...
On 22 Jul 2004 05:20:36 -0700
(Chris) wrote:

Could anybody let me know if it would be possible to hit a tee shot
from the surface of the moon (forget about space suits, just imagine
it was a normal golf shot), that would sent the golf ball into orbit?

Nope. Orbital velocity around the moon is about 1.5 km/s. I don't know how fast golf balls travel but I would be surprised if they exceed 100 m/s.

The other problem is that an initial impulse from the surface can not result in an orbit which does not intersect the surface. To achive orbit the golf ball would have to make a circularisation burn (or be whacked by another golf club) after the first half an orbit.

I recall an amusing short story where someone was sent to the moon to
investigate why an American base and a near by Russian base could exist
so peaceably together when war was brewing back on Earth. Turns out that
everyone was too busy, and burning up massive amounts of computer CPU,
calculating the surface intersecting orbits of the many many rifle
rounds that the two bases had previously fired at each other. When the
alarm sounded everyone would duck, and after the bullets came whizzing
through they would patch up with a little silicone.

The American commander was very proud that just over the hill they were
in the process of building a stone wall to block the reciprocal fire,
"and then we'll show them!"

Marc

On Thu, 22 Jul 2004 23:23:36 -0600
"David M. Palmer" wrote:

This is fast by the standards of a golf
ball or a rifle bullet.

I do recall reading a science fiction story about two guys having a fight on the surface of a small asteroid. Bad guy picks up a rock, throws it at the good guy who ducks at the right moment. Action continues until the bad guy is hit on the back of his head by the same rock, one orbit later. Unlucky for him that he threw it at or slightly above orbital velocity.
--
Michael Smith
Network Applications
www.netapps.com.au | +61 (0) 416 062 898
Web Hosting | Internet Services

Yes. Provided, you can hit the golf ball with the stick which is several kilometers long.


"Chris" wrote in message
om...
Could anybody let me know if it would be possible to hit a tee shot
from the surface of the moon (forget about space suits, just imagine
it was a normal golf shot), that would sent the golf ball into orbit?

I think the best you could do is to hit the ball, have it orbit once,
and eventually it would fall back near the spot you hit it. But
wouldn't that be cool???