P4 1 Moonfall: A Rudimentary Critisism on Orbital Mechanics

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the orbital mechanics at play as depicted in the 2021 film `"Moonfall". We model the case of a orbital transfer of the Moon from its standard orbit, to one where it just contacts Earth. The required change in the Moon's orbital velocity is found to be between 767.530ms<sup>-1</sup> and 856.959ms<sup>-1</sup>, with the energy required to move the Moon in this way to be of the order of 10<sup>28</sup>J. Finally we determine the impact time to be a few days, seemingly in contradiction with the films suggested time span of `"a few weeks".