Dr. Julius Birch's "Apollo 17 Anomalous Ascent Trajectory" on Aulis

[Peter B]

...All that is meant to sound like the typical colophon of authority in academia...

Thank you, Jay, for making me dive for the dictionary again. I only knew of Colophon as an Ionian Greek town from the time of the Peloponnesian War.

*sigh* The things you learn from being interested in Apollo...

[Peter B]

Bob B. has  very concise and accurate simulation.

http://www.braeunig.us/apollo/LM-ascent.htm

Would you believe it if I said that the author actually references Bob's article?

I skimmed the article, and while I could possibly work my way through the maths there doesn't seem to be much point attempting to verify it. First, that's better left to people who use that maths all the time, and second, even if it's right there are plenty of other places where the article falls down that don't require knowledge of the maths.

1. On page 28, Birch says that he was able to make a best-fit "roller-coaster" trajectory fit his calculations of the A17 ascent, then concludes that "... the agreement between the roller coaster and the broadcast trajectory is excellent..." Well, gee, Sherlock what a surprise! If you paint a white line next to a skid mark on the road of course you can say that the skid mark and the white line match very closely.

2. On page 26, Birch says the model of the LM on the roller-coaster was probably scaled down by a factor of 10, and quotes the NASA Apollo 5 Mission Report as evidence. The problem is that he doesn't reference a page or even a section, so we're left to trawl through a 381 page document to find this alleged reference.

3. Throughout the article there are mistaken acronyms, which suggests sloppy oversight (or none). So, for example, the RCS is described as the Reactive [sic] Control System, and the first mention of the Lunar Roving Vehicle gives its acronym as the LVR. Petty? Sure, and pedantic too. But anyone who knows much about Apollo is going to notice things like that and wonder what other mistakes there are.

4. On page 21 Birch speculates that Ed Fendell (who steered the LRV's camera) was caught by surprise by the movements of the LM, which is why he lost track of it. But Fendell had had plenty of opportunity to practice with a reliable simulator, so he would have known what a nominal ascent would have looked like. This then raises the question of how could NASA have messed up the parameters of the roller-coaster Birch speculates about such that it failed to match the LM's nominal ascent? Wouldn't they have tested and measured to make sure the model matched the reality it was intended to mimic?

[Luke Pemberton]

I've been shown an article by a Julius A. Birch, PhD, on Aulis, where he goes to great pains to show that the observed trajectory of the Apollo 17 lunar ascent is incorrect and therefore faked.

I have a PhD but I would not profess to be an expert in the dynamics of space vehicles. Just as much as I would not profess to be an expert in Medieval Art on the Aegean Peninsula. Credentials mean jack unless you've worked professionally in the field and have proven application in that field.

[gillianren]

Not to mention that your PhD is in a relevant field.  I wouldn't expect a PhD in psychiatry to be useful in analyzing the trajectories of spacecraft--or, come to that, Medieval Art on the Aegean Peninsula.  It sometimes occurs to be that conspiracists don't realize exactly how many fields you can get a PhD in.

[bknight]

Bob B. has  very concise and accurate simulation.

http://www.braeunig.us/apollo/LM-ascent.htm

...

4. On page 21 Birch speculates that Ed Fendell (who steered the LRV's camera) was caught by surprise by the movements of the LM, which is why he lost track of it. But Fendell had had plenty of opportunity to practice with a reliable simulator, so he would have known what a nominal ascent would have looked like. This then raises the question of how could NASA have messed up the parameters of the roller-coaster Birch speculates about such that it failed to match the LM's nominal ascent? Wouldn't they have tested and measured to make sure the model matched the reality it was intended to mimic?

IIRC the vehicle was "lost" when it flew beyond visual acuity of the camera.  The last visible aspect that I remember was the exhaust plume with the camera looking almost directly at it.  That doesn't seem like NASA (Ed Fendell) was caught by surprise to me.

[onebigmonkey]

Last year I ought a postal cover signed by Ed Fendell. I posted on a facebook group how pleased I was with it, despite having no provenance as to its authenticity.

Ed Fendell recently liked the post.

Apart from being absolutely thrilled that he did that, my point is that Ed Fendell is around and can be contacted if anyone was really interested in finding out something about his experiences (as are many other people directly involved in Project Apollo. 'Dr' Birch didn't do this. Wonder why...

[ineluki]

This then raises the question of how could NASA have messed up the parameters of the roller-coaster Birch speculates about such that it failed to match the LM's nominal ascent? Wouldn't they have tested and measured to make sure the model matched the reality it was intended to mimic?

Of course not, these guys weren't rocket scientists...