Lunar Lander Crash Challenge!

We have really enjoyed all your emails telling us how much you are learning and having fun practicing your lunar landings with the simulator. We also like the fact that many of you are working as a team like the Apollo 12 landing crew. We are amazed how many of you have scored over 100 points of safe landings before running out of fuel, as well as crash landing speeds over 300 mps. All of your accomplishments are a testimonial of how practice can prepare you for even the most unexpected situations like the one that Neil Armstrong faced when the very first humans landed on the Moon. This week we will share with you the best scores that we have received to date. They were achieved by Magalie and Bennett from Fairfield, Vermont USA. This team has achieved the Commander Conrad and Pilot Bean “OUTSTANDING” Team Achievement Award with the following record setting scores:

Safe Lunar Landing Points = 110 & “Crash” Landing Speed = 303.3 mps

We are so impressed by this team’s accomplishment after only a week of practice that we are announcing the beat Magalie and Bennett Lunar Lander “Crash Challenge”. Mystical Moon as a team has accepted this challenge and would like to invite everyone to compete. So, pick your crew-mate and attempt to beat their “OUTSTANDING” team scores. We have already begun our attempts to beat their high scores and can tell you that it is quite a challenge. Please let us know how your team does – can any team beat Magalie and Bennett?

Here are a few ‘Lessons Learned’ and ‘Hints’ from Magalie and Bennett to achieve a 303.3 mps lunar impact:

3) Whatever the quantity of fuel you decide to hold onto for thrust on the way down, it is important to time the start of your thrust so that you run out of fuel just before impact (a second or less).

2) Somewhere in between a quarter and a half tank of fuel there is a mathematically ideal set of numbers (fuel and altitude) for performing this maneuver, but I don't know what they are!

1) Have FUN!

You can send us your best scores to magic@kelvin.net and we will publish your team’s accomplishments on the blog post or just leave a comment below to let us know what you’ve learned and how well your team did. Please also let us know your ages - see the PS comment below to understand why. Good Luck!

Have a very safe and happy 4th of July holiday!

sic itur ad astra, ("thus you shall go to the stars", spoken by Apollo to Aeneas' young son Iulus)

Mystical Moon

PS - What is most amazing is that Bennett is only 5 years old and he says - "I like Lunar Lander because crashing is fun!"

"All one can really leave one's children is what's inside their heads. Education, in other words, and not earthly possessions, is the ultimate legacy, the only thing that cannot be taken away." - Dr. Wernher von Braun