🚀 go-pugleaf

This post will attempt to completely destroy the allegation that the  
government is hiding some undefined fact about the Moon's mass or density.   
For, if what a you say is true, the Moon must have much different mass  
than accepted. 

First some numbers:
Mass of the Earth: 5.98 x 10^24 kg
Radius of Earth: 6.37 x 10^6 m or 6370 km
Mass of Moon: 7.34 x 10^22 kg
Radius of Moon: 1.74 x 10^6 m or 1740 km
Distance from Moon to Earth: 3.84 x 10^8 m or 384,000 km

Using the equation from Newton's Law of Gravitation, a = (G*M)/R^2, the  
acceleration due to gravity at the Earth's surface is 9.8 m/s^2 (1G) which  
is a undeniable physical fact.  The acceleration at the Moon's surface is  
1.62 m/s^2 which is approximately 0.165 G or 1/6 G.  The barycenter, the  
point which the Earth and Moon revolve around is the center of mass of the  
system.  It is (m*d)/(M+m) from the center of the Earth.  That is 4656 km  
from the center of the Earth, or almost 380,000 km from the center of the  
Moon.  The barycenter  is well inside the Earth.  However, the Earth-Moon  
system does have a noticeable wobble to it since the masses are so close  
inside.  Neglecting rotation, etc., the point where the gravity from each  
body cancels, is solved by setting the forces equal and solving.  I found  
that the "neutral" point (which has little meaning in the real rotating  
system) is roughly the same distance from the center of the Moon as the  
center of mass is from the Earth's center.  However, this calculation is  
fairly complicated and my answer is suspect. 

BTW, the density of the Earth is 5523 kg/m^3 (or 5.52 g/cm^3, about five  
times the density of water).  The density of the Moon is 3308 kg/m^3 or  
three times the density of water.  If we use your suspect value of the  
gravity of the Moon's surface being .64G, then the mass of the Moon must  
be 2.86 x 10^23 kg or one twentieth of the Earth's mass or four times the  
Moon's present mass.  This would be manifested in a much different  
barycenter for the Earth-Moon system.  The density of the Moon would be  
twelve times the density of water, much heavier than rock or metal,  
approaching the density of lead or gold.  

The fact is, astronomers can determine the mass of the Moon using a  
variety of techniques, which are extremely accurate and do not require  
getting anywhere near the moon.  For example, astronomers can inaccurately  
determine the mass of stars light years away!  The tides also offer a  
qualitative reason why we can guess at the Moon's mass.  Also, there is a  
large body of PUBLIC DOMAIN info. from the lunar "landers" and orbiters  
which would prove the true value.  There are probably books with the  
gravitational calculations and the info. on suits, acrobatics, and the  
history of the failed probes.  

The failure of the early lunar probes can be explained by inaccuracy in  
measurements (navigation requires very high precision), possible neglect  
of other factors such as the Earth and Sun's effects, bad equipment, or  
many other problems that early missions had to work out.  Just a small  
error at the beginning of the mission could result in a large discrepancy  
at the end.  Something as basic as the Moon's mass or gravity cannot be  
kept secret from anyone with a pad of paper, a telescope could figure it  
out, and a desire to know.  Why would the U.S., Russia, Japan, most other  
space-faring nations, and literally thousands of scientists and engineers  
not in NASA but other public and private organizations keep this secret.   
Scientists and engineers tend to be bad at keeping secrets, especially  
this big and widespread.

The recent point of space suits and lack of athletic ability of lunar  
astronauts is interesting but false.  First, astronauts were probably  
prohibited from acrobatics because of the very high possibility of injury  
(or death) if the fouled up in the clumsy suits and unfamiliar  
environment.  Second, although the gravity is lower, the inertia is still  
the same.  Third, those suits are unmaneuverable, and probably not  
designed for any vertical leaping.  Movies/photos of lunar astronauts  
showing them adopting a leaping gait, only possible on the Moon.   Also,  
those old suits are heavy, just how heavy I don't know.  

 
Finally, some minor flames: What exactly is NASA covering-up and why?

Ian Burrell