Topic: LRO at the Moon: Viewing, questions, comments
ejectr Member
Posts: 1464 From: Brimfield, MA Registered: Mar 2002
posted September 08, 2011 11:51 AM
quote:Originally posted by Jeff: I was surfing the web tonight and stumble upon this video... thought the cS brethren would enjoy.
What a fabulous video! The music was perfect for it. Made my heart long for the old days.
Paul Littler Member
Posts: 68 From: Brentwood, Essex, UK Registered: Jul 2003
posted September 09, 2011 06:55 AM
If I recall the main reason for LRO having a really close look at the Apollo landing sites was because NASA had obviously already been able to survey them in greater detail than the rest of the moon. The LRO mission would therefore, by having the Apollo sites as a comparison, stand more chance of finding a new crater at an Apollo site than in other areas of the Moon.
So is there any news of new craters formed since the 1970's? and what does this say about the chances of a future long term base on the Moon suffering a meteorite strike?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 24026 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted September 09, 2011 12:08 PM
At the suggestion of a Bad Astronomy contributor, Phil Plait has created a side-by-side comparison of a frame from the 16mm camera on Apollo 17's command lunar module looking down at the Apollo 17 landing site and LRO's latest image of the same.
I had a weird sense of being there, a feeling that was visceral instead of intellectual. Sure, I know we’ve been to the Moon, multiple times. But these pictures really — pardon the odd metaphor — bring it home. And when you think that what we’re seeing from LRO in its lonely orbit around the Moon is the same as what the astronauts saw by simply looking out their window… well.
It’s pretty amazing what we can do sometimes, isn’t it?
Paul78zephyr Member
Posts: 282 From: Hudson, MA Registered: Jul 2005
posted September 13, 2011 01:29 PM
These are quite remarkable photographs however to me they still seem a bit fuzzy considering the low orbit (31 miles) and lack of any atmospheric interference. They seem less clear then when I look at Google satellite images of my own street where I can clearly make out my own car.
If it wasn't delineated on the photos I would not have been able to tell that the LRV was the LRV. How does the resolution/clarity of the LRO in its mapping orbit compare to Google satellite images of Earth and to those of the MRO and its HiRISE camera?
AusSpace Member
Posts: 24 From: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Registered: Nov 2010
posted September 13, 2011 10:40 PM
Most of the high resolution images you see on Google Earth when you zoom right in are actually taken by aerial photography rather than satellite. That's why high resolution imagery is used only for populated areas or places of interested, because aerial photography is much more expensive to produce. The low resolution you see when your exploring remote areas and the images you see when you zoom out are the actual satellite images.
Currently, the satellite with the highest imaging capability (ignoring spy satellites which aren't capable of imaging large areas at very high resolution) is GeoEye-1. It has the capability to image at a spatial resolution of 0.41 meters per pixel, however that resolution is black an white only. Its maximum resolution for color imagery is 1.65 meters per pixel. Compare that to the new Apollo images taken at a resolution of 25 cm per pixel and you get a resolution almost seven times sharper that GeoEye-1.
Space Cadet Carl Member
Posts: 74 From: Lake Orion, Michigan Registered: Feb 2006
posted September 14, 2011 05:32 AM
As far as the resolution of the new LRO Apollo landing site photos... keep in mind that LRO was streaking past the landing sites at 3,500 MPH at an altitude of 12.4 miles. That's like treetop level flying. At that speed and low altitude it was amazing that the LRO team was able to obtain any useable images without total blurring.
DChudwin Member
Posts: 802 From: Lincolnshire IL USA Registered: Aug 2000
posted November 21, 2011 10:37 PM
DLR has released this video based on a 3D map of the Moon utilizing data from LRO.
Jeff Member
Posts: 183 From: Fayetteville, NC, USA Registered: May 2009
posted November 22, 2011 06:49 AM
quote:Originally posted by Robert Pearlman: At the suggestion of a Bad Astronomy contributor, Phil Plait has created a side-by-side comparison of a frame from the 16mm camera on Apollo 17's command module looking down at the Apollo 17 landing site and LRO's latest image of the same.
Is that still frame taken from the CSM? Looks like a still frame from the LMP's DAC right after the ascent stage pitched over.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 24026 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted November 22, 2011 08:54 AM
You're correct, as captioned by the Lunar Surface Journal:
This frame was taken just after lift-off with the 16-mm camera mounted in Jack Schmitt's LM window. It is also Figure 4-53 in the Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report where the caption reads, in part "the irregular dark lines between the LM and the ALSEP instruments are LRV tracks."
LM-12 Member
Posts: 398 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted March 05, 2012 04:15 PM
LRO image M175252641 is a new low-orbit photo of the Apollo 15 landing site.
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 1752 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted March 05, 2012 08:07 PM
Wonderful! It's all there... Falcon, the rover, ALSEP, tyre-tracks, footprints. Seems like yesterday.
LM-12 Member
Posts: 398 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted March 05, 2012 08:56 PM
You can see the crater they landed in and even the LM footpads. It seems the further away from the LM you go, the harder it is to see the rover tracks.
The sun angle was about 12 degrees when Falcon landed at Hadley. I wonder what the sun angle is in this latest photo. The LM shadow looks similar.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 24026 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted March 06, 2012 12:12 PM
Today's release is a new look at Apollo 12's landing site on the Ocean of Storms.
One of the most common questions prior to the launch of LRO was: will you be able to see the American flags that were left on the Moon by the astronauts? The flags themselves are too small to be seen by the NACs, even with the small pixel scales enabled by the low-altitude orbit. However you can see the shadow being cast by the flag. This is especially evident in this movie [15 MB Quicktime file] of LROC images of a complete lunar day, shown sequentially from dawn to dusk. Watch the rotation of the shadows carefully, and you can see the shadow cast by the flag! Question answered, yes you can find the flag - but what does it look like? Have the stars and stripes faded? That question will remain for a future landed spacecraft.
LM-12 Member
Posts: 398 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted March 06, 2012 12:34 PM
The east-west tracks seem easier to spot than the north-south tracks.
LM-12 Member
Posts: 398 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted March 07, 2012 12:35 PM
LRO image 175124932LR is a new low-orbit photo of the Apollo 11 landing site.
West Crater looks very impressive in this image. The ejecta blanket is very bright and you can see large boulders on the northwest rim of the crater - probably the same boulders Armstrong and Aldrin were trying to avoid on the landing approach.
I do not see a flag shadow. I think Aldrin said he saw it fall over at liftoff.
ilbasso Member
Posts: 1300 From: Greensboro, NC USA Registered: Feb 2006
posted March 07, 2012 04:54 PM
I was stunned when I saw the new image of West Crater. No wonder Armstrong decided to land long! It looks like the most formidable place in what was supposed to be a nearly "featureless" landing ellipse. There are boulders strewn about that look to be nearly the size of the LM.
There are a number of places, particularly downrange from the LM, where there are irregular blobs of "supersaturated" pixels. In some cases, they are casting shadows and thus are faces of boulders. In other cases, there are no associated shadows. These look similar to the "discarded cover" near the LRR. I wonder if these are swaths of foil that blew out from Eagle's descent stage as the ascent stage took off.
LM-12 Member
Posts: 398 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted March 07, 2012 05:39 PM
West Crater is about 590 feet across and about 98 feet deep.
Space Cadet Carl Member
Posts: 74 From: Lake Orion, Michigan Registered: Feb 2006
posted March 08, 2012 09:17 AM
I was a bit amazed this week when the latest image of the Apollo 12 landing site taken by the LRO spacecraft actually showed the American flag planted by Conrad and Bean is still intact on the lunar surface!
My understanding was that the all the flags planted on the Moon were ordinary retail store purchased flags from the Annis Flag Company in Ohio. A lot of "experts" thought the flags would totally disintegrate and turn to dust within a few years due to constant solar bombardment.
This new LRO image "gave proof through the night that our flag was still there."
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 24026 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted March 08, 2012 09:21 AM
Well, not exactly. As noted, LRO cannot resolve the flags themselves, only what image analysts assume is the shadow being cast by the flag. And even then, there's no telling how intact the flag is if indeed it is casting the shadow.
The "experts" were basing their opinion based on materials science, so it wasn't as if they were just making assumptions...
SpaceAholic Member
Posts: 2671 From: Sierra Vista, Arizona Registered: Nov 1999
posted March 15, 2012 11:54 AM
Derived from LRO data...
Two New NASA LRO Videos: See Moon's Evolution, Take a Tour
In honor of 1,000 days in orbit, the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Md. has released two new videos.
One video takes viewers through the moon's evolutionary history, and reveals how it came to appear the way it does today. Another video gives viewers a guided tour of prominent locations on the moon's surface, compiled by the spacecraft's observations of the moon.
"Evolution of the Moon" explains why the moon did not always look like it does now. The moon likely started as a giant ball of magma formed from the remains of a collision by a Mars sized object with the Earth about four and a half billion years ago. After the magma cooled, the moon's crust formed.
Then between 4.5 and 4.3 billion years ago, a giant object hit near the moon's South Pole, forming the South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the two largest proven impact basins in the solar system. This marked the beginning of collisions that would cause large scale changes to the moon's surface, such as the formation of large basins.
Because the moon had not entirely cooled on the inside, magma began to seep through cracks caused by impacts. Around one billion years ago, it's thought that volcanic activity ended on the near side of the moon as the last of the large impacts made their mark on the surface.
The moon continued to be battered by smaller impacts. Some of the best-known impacts from this period include the Tycho, Copernicus, and Aristarchus craters.
So, while the moon today may seem to be an unchanging world, its appearance is the result of billions of years of violent activity.
"Tour of the Moon" takes viewers to several interesting locations on the moon.
Tour stops included in this breathtaking journey across the moon's surface are: Orientale Basin, Shackleton crater, South Pole-Aitken Basin, Tycho crater, Aristarchus Plateau, Mare Serenitatis, Compton-Belkovich volcano, Jackson crater and Tsiolkovsky crater.
MCroft04 Member
Posts: 1111 From: Smithfield, Me, USA Registered: Mar 2005
posted March 16, 2012 08:26 PM
I'm surprised that reputable scientists are not acknowledging that the impact theory is being challenged by recent work on the volcanic glasses brought back by Apollo astronauts. New analytical techniques are detecting significant amounts of water associated with these glasses. Water is a volatile, and it is unlikely that it would have survived the heat of a giant impact. As Jack Schmitt acknowledged at the ASF A15 40th anniversary celebration, "I think we're going to have to rethink this one."
posted September 08, 2011 11:51 AM
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