TIL that there is an art museum on the moon, and one of the artworks is a penis drawn by Andy Warhol

I think it is unlikely there were a bunch of items hidden on the spacecraft as it takes a considerable amount of rocket fuel to move even a pound.

A rule of thumb is that 90% of the mass of a typical rocket is propellant. We can take a look at Tsiolkovsky's Rocket Equation to find out if that is about right.

Δv=velnmom1 Δ

v

v e ln ⁡ m o m 1

delta v is the velocity change of the rocket ve is the exhaust velocity of the rocket mo is the original mass of the rocket m1 is the final mass of the rocket

If we don't know the exhaust velocity, we can use the Isp (specific impulse) to figure it out.

ve=Ispg0 v

e

I s p g 0

Let's say we want to get the rocket to LEO, at about the altitude of the ISS. That would require an orbital velocity of 7800 m/s, so we'll use that as our delta v. Isp varies per rocket. Let's use an Isp of about 340. That's about right for midsize rockets like a Soyuz rocket or Falcon 9. For our final mass, we'll use 1 kg, for simplicity.

So, let's plug those in and rewrite the equation to dispose of the natural log to isolate Mo.

m0=m1eΔvIspg0=(1kg)e7800m/s(340s)(9.8m/s2) m

0

m 1 e Δ v I s p g

0

( 1 k g ) e 7800 m / s ( 340 s ) ( 9.8 m / s 2 )

That gives us an initial mass of the rocket of 10.39 kg

So, if our imaginary rocket with a final mass of 1 kg started off at 10.39 kg, then 90.3% of the mass of the rocket was propellant. Our rule of thumb was pretty darn close.

I did that in metric and you asked for pounds, but the answer will be the same - to propel 1 pound of mass would require 9.39 pounds of propellant.

Note: This was an ideal scenario calculation. We didn't account for variables like latitude, atmospheric drag, altitude related changes in gravity, etc.

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