Targets for LRO |
Targets for LRO |
Apr 6 2007, 09:41 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 172 Joined: 17-March 06 Member No.: 709 |
You can imagine this to be a companion thread to the one requesting suggestions
for MRO targets on Mars. The LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) is set to launch in a little over a year from now. There was to a be a site selection workshop in May 2007, next month, but I see now that it has been cancelled. Therefore, it appears that it is up to us, the UMSF Community to take up the baton and help NASA out. It was done for New Horizons at Jupiter and was very productive. So, what are the sites that you would like to see imaged at 0.5 meter resolution by LROC, LRO's High-Resolution camera? My first suggestion would be to re-photograph the Surveyor 1 landing site to compare it with the images obtained by Lunar Orbiter 3. My second suggestion would be to photograph the Surveyor 6 landing area. This should image S-6 itself, but even more interesting, it may capture images of Surveyor 4, which should be only a mile or so away. This would help to determine whatever happened to S-4, which abruptly stopped transmitting just short of touchdown. Another Phil |
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Apr 8 2007, 04:42 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
Those Surveyor retro systems were never observed in images. Even if they could be seen in LRO images it might be difficult to distinguish them from rocks. That's the real problem, isn't it -- finding things that didn't make obvious craters. Lunar Orbiter images showed us one landed Surveyor (the first one, out by the Flamsteed Ring) and, as I recall, one of the Ranger impact craters (the last one, in Alphonsus). The Apollo panoramic camera showed us landed LMs, S-IVB impact craters, LM ascent stage impact craters, and even a few of the Ranger impact craters. But no lunar orbiting camera has ever shown us Luna 9, Luna 13, or either Lunakhod (mostly, I'm sure, due to large uncertainties about their locations). And as you point out, none of the Surveyor retro-rocket systems has ever been imaged. And the problem with that is we can see the craters formed by man-made objects 'cause they're usually fresh, blocky and rayed. Anything in the field of view in an area we *know* contains an artificial object's final resting (or splatting) place that shows signs of being quite recent becomes identifiable. But a lump, between a third and a half meter across, and thus at the extreme range of single-pixel coverage in a given iimage? You'd have better luck finding a thoat in MRO images... And someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that LRO can achieve any greater resolutions from its planned specification by lowering its orbit -- the relative speed of the spacecraft over the lunar surface would cause blurring of the image, no matter what you do. (LRO already uses motion compensation, IIRC, so there's not much further you can do to achieve greater resolutions.) So, don't be expecting imagery of bootprints around landed LMs any time in the near future. Finally, when it comes to the overall topic, here, we want to be very careful about high-reolution imagery on the Moon. The ubiquitous regolith and massive gardening of the upper crust actually make it *more difficult* to observe lunar geologic processes at high resolutions, not easier. For scientific purposes, LRO's resolution needs to be used for such things as stereo slope mapping and observation of small features that have an intrinsic interest. For example, you might want to take high-res images of the dark-halo vents in Alphonsus, since those might be places where gas is escaping and disturbing surface materials. Beyond that kind of thing, the Moon is better observed, geologically, at lower resolutions. (Read Don Wilhelms' 'To a Rockey Moon' if you don't believe me... ) -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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