The Moon's Orbit will be Destablized by TransOrbital

> Ryan,
>
> This list is awesome, thanks for your efforts.
>
> The grand total is quite impressive, 168 tons of
> stuff,
> more than I had thought.
>
> Forgive me for being really picky about a couple of
> fine
> details.
>
> Apollo-10: The LEM ascent stage was put into solar
> orbit, but presumably the LEM descent stage impacted
> the
> Moon
>
> Explorer: I am still trying to get more info about
> the
> obscure radio astronomy Explorer which orbited the
> Moon
> some time in the 1980's
>

NASA has no listing of anything around the Moon during
that time. Take a look at this timeline:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/lunartimeline.html
However, going back to 1973 I think I found your
little explorer. It is the Explorer 49(RAE-B). It
has a mass of 328 kg. However I have no reason to
believe it is not still there in orbit. If someone
has the time, they could try to track it down, here is
the NASA profile:
(http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc73-039A)

Looking at this timeline though it appears Hiten did
impact the moon. This info was omitted on
astronautix.com. So add another 143 kgs there.

> Luna-16 and -24(?): Those two Luna probes returned
> sample capsules to Earth, we should subtract the
> mass of
> those ascent stages from their landing weights,
> since
> that hardware is no longer on the Moon.
Luna-20 also had a sample return for a total of 3.
However I cannot find those masses anywhere.
>
> Thanks for your excellent work. The list is
> probably
> worth publishing somehwere, not sure where though.
>
> Regards,
>
> Charles R.
>
If anyone wants to publish this, feel free, email me
when you put it up and I will send updates. The flaws
in it besides what charles pointed out in the Luna
sample returns are for someone to determine whether or
not the Luna orbiters and the Explorer did in fact
decay in orbit to the point where they have impacted
the moon.

The NASA planetary exploration chronology website
(http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/chrono.html) has
links for the orbital information for each orbiter.
Given that, its just a matter of cruching the numbers
to determine if they have fallen yet or not.

Here is the list with Hiten and Explorer added:

The following websites were used to obtain masses
http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/lunarform/landing.html

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/TM-3487/app-c.htm

http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/contents.htm
http://www.astronautix.com
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/chrono.html

Russian When Dry Mass (kg) Notes
Luna 2 1959 390.2
Luna 5 1965 1474
Luna 7 1965 1504
Luna 8 1965 1550
Luna 9 1966 1580
Luna 10 1966 1600 Assumed to have decayed in orbit to
impact the moon
Luna 11 1966 1640 Assumed to have decayed in orbit to
impact the moon
Luna 12 1966 1670 Assumed to have decayed in orbit to
impact the moon
Luna 13 1966 1700
Luna 14 1968 1670 Assumed to have decayed in orbit to
impact the moon
Luna 15 1969 2718
Luna 16 1970 5600 "Was a sample return mission, mass
left behind is unknown"
Luna 17 1970 5600
Luna 18 1971 5600
Luna 19 1971 5600 Assumed to have decayed in orbit to
impact the moon
Luna 20 1972 5600 "Was a sample return mission, mass
left behind is unknown"
Luna 21 1973 4850 "lander and rover weighed 1814 kg,
the rest assumed to have decayed in orbit and impacted
the moon"
Luna 22 1974 4000 Assumed to have decayed in orbit to
impact the moon
Luna 23 1974 5600
Luna 24 1976 4800 "Was a sample return mission, mass
left behind is unknown"

US
Ranger 6 1964 381
Ranger 7 1964 365.7
Ranger 8 1965 367
Ranger 9 1965 367
Surveyor 1 1966 270
Lunar Orbiter 1966 386
Surveyor 2 1966 292
Lunar Orbiter 2 1966 385
Lunar Orbiter 3 1966 386
Surveyor 3 1967 281
Lunar Orbiter 4 1967 386
Surveyor 4 1967 283
Lunar Orbiter 5 1967 386
Surveyor 5 1967 281
Surveyor 6 1967 282
Surveyor 7 1967 290
Apollo 11 LM Ascent Stage 1969 2184 LM was put
temporarily into lunar orbit. Assumed to have decayed
and crashed onto the moon
Apollo 11 LM Descent Stage 1969 2034
Apollo 12 LM Ascent Stage 1969 2164
Apollo 12 LM Descent Stage 1969 2211
Apollo 13 SIVB (S-IVB-508) 1970 13454
Apollo 14 SIVB (S-IVB-509) 1971 14016
Apollo 14 LM Ascent Stage 1971 2132
Apollo 14 LM Descent Stage 1971 2144
Apollo 15 SIVB (S-IVB-510) 1971 2132
Apollo 15 LM Ascent Stage 1971 14036
Apollo 15 LM Descent Stage 1971 2809
Apollo 15 Lunar Rover 1971 462
Apollo 16 SIVB (S-IVB-511) 1972 14002
Apollo 16 LM Ascent Stage 1972 2138 LM was put
temporarily into lunar orbit. Assumed to have decayed
and crashed onto the moon
Apollo 16 LM Descent Stage 1972 2765
Apollo 16 subsatellite 1972 36
Apollo 16 Lunar Rover 1972 462
Apollo 17 SIVB (S-IVB-512) 1972 13960
Apollo 17 LM Ascent Stage 1972 2150
Apollo 17 LM Descent Stage 1972 2798
Apollo 17 Lunar Rover 1972 462
Explorer 49(RAE-B) 1973 328 Assumed to have decayed in
orbit to impact the moon
Lunar Prospector 1998 126

Japanese
Hiten 1993 143
Hiten Orbitter 1990 12 "Was ejected into lunar orbiter
in 1990, assumed to have decayed in orbit"

Total 169294.9