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