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Which existing or planned in nearest future rockets will be able to get to the Moon with a payload of about 1000 kg?

For example with the Astrobotic Lunar Lander: https://spacenews.com/astrobotic-unveils-peregrine-lunar-lander/

According to Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_rocket only 3 rockets can get to the Moon:

  • Space Launch System (SLS), USA
  • Unified Modular Launch Vehicle, India (?)
  • Long March 9, China

How about SpaceX Falcon Heavy, New Glenn, Rocket Lab, Antares, Russian rockets, Firefly, Vector?

Russell Borogove
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Dmytro Khmara
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    It depends on how you define getting to the Moon. A lunar orbit, a crash on the surface, a return to the Earth with soft landing? A small payload or a manned mission with a Moon walk and safe return to Earth? – Uwe Aug 28 '18 at 12:05
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    Related questions: 1. https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/4793/what-tonnage-can-current-heavy-rockets-land-on-the-moon?rq=1 2. https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/14181/are-any-rockets-currently-in-use-capable-of-putting-a-man-on-the-moon?rq=1 – Heopps Aug 28 '18 at 12:26
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    Historically the smallest rocket delivered "at least something" to the Moon was Atlas-Agena with Ranger-7 craft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_7 – Heopps Aug 28 '18 at 12:31
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    The question as-is is very fuzzy, IMHO. It would be a better to narrow it down like, "Which current rockets are able to deliver a 100kg lander to the Moon?" or "Which current or planned for the near future rockets would be able to get humans into a lunar orbit?" – DarkDust Aug 28 '18 at 12:44
  • @Heopps: Ranger 7 space probe had a launch mass of 366 kg, a very heavy something. Luna 2 was 390 kg. The first soft landing of the Luna 9 lander had a mass of only 99 kg. – Uwe Aug 28 '18 at 12:50
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    @Uve yes, but the question is about the size of rocket, not a spacecraft. :) By my comment I wanted to stress that we don't need "a very big rocket" to fly the Moon in principle. Also Minotaur-5 rocket (with LADEE) was of comparable size and mass, as well as japanese M-3 with Hiten probe. All other rockets that aclually flown to Moon were bigger (R-7 family, PSLV, Delta-2, Long March, etc.) – Heopps Aug 28 '18 at 13:12
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    I've added more details. I'm interesting which rockets are able to get the Moon with payload about 1000 kg. For example with the Astrobotic Lunar Lander: https://spacenews.com/astrobotic-unveils-peregrine-lunar-lander/ – Dmytro Khmara Aug 28 '18 at 16:06
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    What does this question have to do with SpaceX (the former lead tag)? Pet peeve: Please don't tag a question with SpaceX just because a Falcon rocket may or may not be used. I like SpaceX, but ... sheesh. Tags are for relevance. And the focus on Astrobotic is a bit off as well. That program targeted getting 35 and 265 kilograms of payload to the surface of the Moon rather than the 1000 kilograms that this asks about. – David Hammen Aug 28 '18 at 19:11
  • But what should happen at the Moon with the payload of 1000 kg? A crash into the Moon, an orbit insertion or a soft landing? "To get to the Moon" does not specify it precisely. – Uwe Aug 29 '18 at 10:34
  • The delta-vee distance between geosynchronous orbit and escape velocity does not appear to be large, so check any launch vehicle that can get a ton to geosynchronous orbit. Certainly any rocket capable of getting a ton to escape velocity can hit the moon. – David Thornley Aug 29 '18 at 15:58
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    @Uwe: I'm going to guess that crashing into the Moon is just fine, since 1000kg to the Moon can have mass for a soft landing or orbital insertion. – David Thornley Aug 29 '18 at 15:59

1 Answers1

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The Wikipedia list you link to specifies human rated lunar rockets; that's a very short list, because it requires, at minimum, lunar landing and safe return of a multi-ton spacecraft.

For a one-way, 1000 kg lander, many more rockets are capable of the job; any launcher that can get at least 8-10 tons to LEO* could soft-land 1 ton on the lunar surface with an appropriate transfer stage/spacecraft/lander design. That includes, among other designs:

  • Falcon 9
  • Atlas V
  • Delta IV
  • Proton
  • Long March 5
  • Ariane 5
  • GSLV Mk III

And possibly Soyuz or Antares.

New Glenn would certainly be able to if it's built; I believe the current Firefly, Vector, and Rocket Lab designs are all too small.

* Assume the transfer and lander stages are using hypergolic fuels with ~3000 m/s exhaust velocity (~305 s Isp). Take a conservative delta-v budget of 3300 m/s for translunar injection orbit, 700 m/s for lunar orbital insertion, 2200 m/s for descent and landing = 6200 m/s. Apply rocket equation:

$$ 6200 = 3000 \ln \frac {m_0} {m_f} $$

Hit it with the algebra stick...

$$ 2.067 = \ln \frac {m_0} {m_f} $$

Thus...

$$ \frac {m_0} {m_f} = e ^ {2.067} = 7.898 $$

Thus the initial (fully fueled) mass could be around 8 times the final (landed) mass.

Russell Borogove
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