Re: Terminal Velocity of Impacting our Moon

"Terminal velocity" is that velocity at which the force of acceleration
on a freely falling object due to gravity is balanced by an equal and
opposite force of drag due to friction of the medium.
tadchem,
And this means that you know the answer?

The force of friction will depend on the density of the medium and the
aerodynamic characteristics of the falling object. The density of the
medium will also depend (in an exponential way) on the altitude above
the surface of the primary.
What's to "depend"? don't we already know all of the necessary factors
related to our moon?

As a result "terminal velocity" is not a constant but varies with
altitude and is different for different objects.
So thereby, as related to our thin atmospheric surrounded moon, as such
the maximum terminal velocity of a given 10t JAVELIN like impactor
is????

The figure of 2.4 m/s you give only holds for a certain set of
circumstances and for a certain class of objects at certain
altitude, none of which have been specified.
The impactor profile is 32:1
The impactor mass is 10t
The altitude is infinite (as much as it takes)

That is unless you'd care to just start this one off from the nearby
LL-1 at one m/s, that's roughly giving us 58,000 km of altitude away
from the lunar deck (a trajectory that's directly aligned between us
and our moon). Of course LL-2 is going to have the moon+Earth gravity
benefit, that'll also require a somewhat spendy satellite form of
science platform in order to view and record such a horrific backside
impact, that is unless it manages to entirely penetrate and we get to
see the emerging remains and/or debris of that JAVELIN probe/impactor
as it's exit being aligned directly towards Earth.
-
Brad Guth

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Terminal Velocity of Impacting our Moon
    ... "Terminal velocity" is that velocity at which the force of acceleration ... on a freely falling object due to gravity is balanced by an equal and ... aerodynamic characteristics of the falling object. ... altitude and is different for different objects. ...
    (sci.physics)
  • Re: Terminal Velocity of Impacting our Moon
    ... opposite force of drag due to friction of the medium. ... aerodynamic characteristics of the falling object. ... use a proton as an impactor and accellerate it to ... though as much higher energy cosmic rays are impacting the moon all the ...
    (sci.physics)
  • Re: Snipper Roberts wouldnt know his Arse from his Elbow.
    ... had the same status as the inertial forces. ... no forces due to gravity. ... unertial forces point in the direction of the falling object. ... physically meaningful tensors. ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)
  • Re: Terminal velocity on different planets
    ... r: density of atmosphere ... cross section area of falling object ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)
Quantcast