KSP: British Moon Shot #1

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Robert Dodd

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Published on January 8, 2018 2:08:13 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnXbc4LuiQE

Duration: 19:54

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After WWII, Great Britain was physically and financially exhausted. Food rationing didn't end until 1954, almost 10 years after the end of the war in Europe. That being the case, it would have been foolish of their government to participate significantly in the space race between the US and the USSR. The tremendous sacrifice required would most likely not have been worth it. The UK was however in the early going one of the leaders in space technology: https://youtu.be/yW5X8dhxA_8

But COULD they have been a third player in the Space Race? In this scenario I assume that the UK has possession of the equivalent of the Soviet R-7 rocket. The Soviets and then Russians, hardly brimming over with cash either, continue to use this rocket today and aside from lifting space stations into orbit used it for pretty much everything. Its significant limitations however may have put the Soviets behind in learning rendezvous and docking, and of course they never intended to assemble a moon rocket out of parts that small. They had a Saturn-sized moon rocket, but it failed.

Anyway, we are creating a scenario where the UK attempts to put together a moon rocket in space from parts which weigh no more than an early generation R7 could lift into orbit, 1.327 metric tons, the payload capacity of the rocket that lifted Sputnik 3 into orbit.

There are several reasons why this would likely not have worked very well: miniaturized computers didn't exist yet with sufficient power, the UK likely didn't have enough ground stations to remotely control the spacecraft by radio, photovoltaics were in a primitive state, rendezvous had not been achieved until 1965 and docking not achieved until 1966, both by the Americans with almost infinitely more resources at their disposal, and the Delta-V required to get from the Earth to the Moon is much greater than that required to get from Kerbin to Mun.

However, I wouldn't want to say that they could NOT have done it, if they had wanted to badly enough. They probably would not have made it before the Americans however, who had the luxury of abundant resources and money and an almost fanatical determination to get back at the Soviets for Sputnik and fulfill the dreams of President Kennedy and so on.

This then is for what might have been, if they were foolishly determined enough to make it happen. A new Empire, on which the Sun truly never sets, albeit on the dusty surface of the Moon. Part 2 is coming soon.