Fly Jarrah to the Moon

Apollo propagandists have frequently claimed that moon hoax conspiracy theorists would not believe that Apollo was real if they were flown to the moon themselves and shown the artefacts supposedly sitting on the surface. So Jarrah started a PayPal fundraise to take them up on that challenge.

In 2005, the Private company Space Adventures announced plans to offer tourists a flight to the moon aboard the Soyuz for $100,000,000 per seat. The plan would see a Soyuz spacecraft launch into Earth orbit, dock with an Earth Departure Stage called Blok DM and then launch the Soyuz and its tourists on a flight around the far side of the moon and back to the Earth.

Tired of accusations that conspiracy theorists would not be convinced if flown to the moon, in 2010 Jarrah created the Fly Jarrah To The Moon fundraise so the propagandists could put their money where their mouth is. The plan was to raise $200,000,000 via PayPal and the second ticket would go to a generous donor whose name would be drawn out of a hat.

Needless to say, Space Adventures’ proposed lunar Soyuz mission would be without a shelter module for surviving solar flares and the Van Allen radiation belts. Jarrah is convinced that such a mission would be fatal to anyone aboard, but is not afraid to die for the sake of the truth.

Fortunately, it seems Jarrah may not need to be that drastic! In 2012, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced that within 10 or 15 years after 2012 he will land tourists on mars for only $500,000 per seat, and that he'll also offer moon landing missions for anyone who wants to pay for it.

While SpaceX is still yet to unveil most of their plans for their proposed Mars mission, Jarrah made some educated guesses as to how it could be accomplished. His educated guesses were not only technologically feasible, but they turned out to be similar to what MarsOne was planning and some aspects of his theory were confirmed by SpaceX.

Jarrah proposes launching the astronauts aboard the Dragon spacecraft, docked with a radiation shelter module surrounded by 2metres of water, and a living quarters module. The proposed stack would have a mass of 131 tons, which is within the lifting capacity of SpaceX’s proposed Falcon XX. A second Falcon XX with two additional first stages as side boosters (the Falcon XX Heavy) could carry an Earth Departure stage with all the propellant for the mission. Whereas a moon mission could be accomplished with a single Falcon XX Heavy. The Dragon spacecraft itself would make propulsive landings on the moon, preferably close to a radiation shelter landed in advance and a cargo vessel with the ascent propellants. During transit of the Van Allen belts, the astronauts would transfer to the shelter module and wait until the craft had crossed this boundary entirely.

Still there are hazards. On the lunar surface, or even on transit to the moon, there is the danger of solar flares that strike without warning. While crews on transit could watch their radiation dosimeters closely and transfer to the shelter module should the dose rates exceeds 100mrad/hr, on the surface astronauts should preferably be only minutes away from the shelter, unless a sheltered pressurized rover is landed on the moon too. But, there is a natural solution to this problem.

Research by Erika M. Harnett and Robert M. Winglee suggest that the ideal time to send a man to the moon would be when it is full. During this phase, the moon spends six days within the Earth’s magnetotail – the portion of the Earth’s magnetosphere blown back by the solar wind. The moon is essentially shielded from all but a few cosmic rays during this time.

“The Magnetic field from the terrestrial magnetosphere can potentially provide radiation shielding from solar energetic particle events and lower energy galactic cosmic rays, which can be a significant hazard during extra-vehicle activities or during human exploration of the lunar surface.” [R.M. Winglee & E.M Harnett, 2007]

“Missions transferring astronauts between the Earth and the Moon and extended missions to the surface of the Moon could be planned for times when the Moon is within the magnetosphere and radiation hazards may be minimized.” [E.M Harnett, 2010]

And so we see that to keep the radiation exposure down, a manned Dragon mission to the moon could be timed to launch directly down the magnetotail and catch up with the moon just as it enters the magnetosphere. During the coast phase of the voyage, the astronauts would live happily within the Earth’s magnetotail without fear of solar radiation. Under these ideal conditions, the only transfers to the shelter module would be during the transit through the radiation belt.

Such a mission could be accomplished using the Falcon XX Heavy. Now the Falcon 9 Heavy could also send a Dragon to the moon, but not with the shelter module in tow. This means the astronauts would be unable to transfer to the shelter during solar flares or transit of the Van Allen belts. If an unsheltered Dragon and Falcon 9 Heavy were to be used, the outward and inward trajectories would need to launch with an inclination >70°, as was proposed by Van Allen in 1962. Beyond latitudes of 70° the electron fluxes in the outer Van Allen belt become negligible. But reaching such latitudes is tricky. The Dragon would have to take off from Earth’s polar region. Launched from the equatorial regions, it would need to alter its orbit over a period of several days. And with a brief window for when the moon would be within the magnetotail, timing would need to be impeccable.

In light of this much better option proposed by SpaceX, Jarrah changed his plans to raise $500,000 for a ride aboard the Dragon to the moon. This change of plans was fortunate, as Space Adventures had upped their price tags from $100,000,000 per seat to $150,000,000 per seat. Worse still, doubt was cast on the plausibility of Space Adventures’ mission. Mark Wade of Encylopedia Astronautica argued that the Blok DM was outside the lifting capacity of the proposed Zenit rocket, and the Proton rocket would have been needed. To add further insult to Space Adventures’ injury, as is typical of Russian tradition, the Russian space agency Roscosmos backed out of the mission, claiming that they were not even consulted by Space Adventures.

To decide who will fly with him, Jarrah will keep track of all who place a donation and draw a name out of a hat. Jarrah would preferably like to fly the Dragon docked with the shelter module. He is very well aware of his inevitable death by space radiation that will come, should his mission be without the shelter module, but he is willing to lay his life on the line for the sake on the truth.

Jarrah encourages propagandists and everyone who believes in Apollo to raise $500,000 to pay for himself and an accompanying believer to take this proposed tourist flight.

If you would like to send money, donations can be sent to FlyJarrahToTheMoon@gmail.com

For non-PayPal donations please contact Jarrah on Jarrahw@gmail.com