Famous pianist and composer Fazıl Say reacted to the project of going to the Moon carried out by the Turkish Space Agency. However, Selcuk Bayraktar responded to Say, who interpreted the concept of “hard landing on the moon” differently.
After many years, Turkey Space Agency (TUA), which was re-established in December 2018, announced the National Space Program 2 years ago. Within the scope of this program, one of the most important goals of the agency was to reach the lunar surface with a rocket to be developed in Turkey.
Here is the most controversial and misunderstood point of this goal. The “reach” part of the moon. There is more than one way to reach the goal in space projects; approaching a planet or object, orbiting around, making a hard landing on the surface, making a soft landing… The list goes on.
Pianist Fazıl Say, who interpreted TUA’s goal of “hard landing on the moon” differently than it was; He shared the following on his social media accounts:
Say’s reaction and even “Kick slap landing on Mars” The concept of “hard landing”, which he took as ti, is actually a prelude to space projects that aim to reach the surface.
A similar situation applies to Falcon 9 rockets developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company. The first versions of the Falcon 9 rocket, which served to transport cargo to space, made a hard landing on the earth after sending the payload into space. However, studies carried out over time enabled these rockets to land on the earth unmanned and completely safely. Until today 190 out of 201 landings rockets could be reused.
Of course, TUA is a government agency just like NASA; It makes it pointless to compare with SpaceX. However, the common point of these two projects is the part of “reaching” the goal. On the other hand, TUA has many years ahead of it to achieve such a goal. Moreover 1.62 billion TL annual budget It would be fair to say that it is a small amount to advance this type of research.
Selçuk Bayraktar responded to this statement of Fazıl Say as follows:
Then, Deputy Minister of Technology and Industry Mehmet Fatih Kacır was also included in the discussion:
Citing Selçuk Bayraktar’s response, Kacır, Assoc. Dr. He reminded that Arif Karabeyoğlu is a scientist who returned to his country for TUA. In his tweet, he also shared the test images of the hybrid rockets that are aimed to land hard on the Moon.
These studies were also explained in detail in the following program of the Future Science YouTube channel, we recommend you to watch:
What does hard landing on the moon mean? How many other types of landings are there?
English “hard landing” or “heavy landing” This concept, which is used as a concept, shows that the rocket manufacturer’s landing systems are limited, therefore, the speed cannot be reduced during landing and the moment of landing on the surface will occur sharply.
Another type of landing “soft landing” ie soft landing. At this point, since the target to be reached is the Moon, and it is impossible to mimic the gravitational conditions of the Moon on earth, the soft landing required speed reduction technologiescannot be tested and developed on the ground. That’s why a hard landing is made first, data is collected, and then this landing phase is tried to be softened every time the Moon is reached.
Another type of landing “lunar landing” i.e. orbital descent. Here, the vehicle does not have to reach the surface of the sent object. If the target is the Moon, it is enough to reach the Moon’s orbit and go around it. For the Apollo 11 mission, where humans were able to reach the Moon for the first time in history, first an “orbital landing” was made to the Moon orbit, and then a “soft landing” was performed with the module coming out of the orbiting vehicle.
Finally, although not a type of landing, it is used in space projects. “flyby” In other words, let’s say that the targets of passing by are also preferred in places. This type of reach is a method used for targets that are relatively far from Earth, Pluto and even outside the solar system. In fact, before reaching the surface of Mars, nearly 50 vehicles were sent just to pass by Mars.
First hard landing on the Moon:
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In fact, the Soviets, who achieved many firsts in the space competition during the Cold War years, aimed to make a hard landing on the Moon’s surface in 1959. Luna 1 mission had successfully completed. This was also the first mission to reach the lunar surface by a man-made object. Shortly after these missions, both the Soviets and the United States succeeded in making a soft landing on the Moon’s surface in the early 1960s.
Why are all countries with the means trying to go to the Moon?
Understanding of soft landing technologies allowed the Soviets and the United States to target space missions, this time involving not just a vehicle but also a human aboard. In 1969, this time the USA succeeded first and with the Apollo 11 mission Humans were sent to the lunar surface for the first time.
In those years, both the US and the world public opinion, which lasted 13 years and today’s economy, costing $270 billion He had also shown a reaction against spending so much money on Apollo missions. As a matter of fact, the competition to “occupy space” in the Cold War; It made sense for countries to spend huge amounts of money this way.
Today, the cost of taking people to the lunar surface and returning them is very high, as they must return. That’s why, thanks to developing communication, chip and sensor technologies, vehicles on the Moon’s surface can work for many years. That’s why countries are now downloading advanced instruments to the Moon’s surface. possible natural resources, traces of life they are investigating.
The Soviets, China, India, the USA, Japan, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and the EU’s European Space Agency are among the countries that have reached the Moon, capable of both hard and soft landings on its surface, and conducting research.