A4 1 Could Apollo 11 Make It into Orbit from a Moon-Sized Earth

Abstract

This paper explores the viability of the launch of the Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket from a "super-dense Moon" (SDM) a hypothetical celestial body which possesses the physical dimensions of Earth's Luna, but with the mass of Earth itself. Using surface gravity, thrust/weight ratio, orbital velocity, and escape velocity, we are able to evaluate rocket performance within very high gravitational environments. The results show that the Surface Gravity for SDM is equal to 131.97 ms\textsuperscript{-2} which equates to 13.45G, hence lowering the thrust-to-weight ratio of the Saturn V rocket to 0.093. Furthermore, there is an increase of the required orbital escape velocities as they escalate to 15.14 kms\textsuperscript{-1} and 21.45 kms\textsuperscript{-1} respectively. As such, the Saturn V would be unable to achieve lift-off, demonstrating that planetary density limits the viability of human space travel greatly.