Category Archives: The Moon

Multiple media, Space Science, The Moon

Wonderful view of earth rising above the Moon’s horizon

A great picture from the Moon:

NASA Releases New High-Res Earthrise Image

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) recently captured a unique view of Earth from the spacecraft’s vantage point in orbit around the moon.

earth_and_limb_m1199291564l_color_2stretch_mask_0[1]Click for larger version.

“The image is simply stunning,” said Noah Petro, Deputy Project Scientist for LRO at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The image of the Earth evokes the famous ‘Blue Marble’ image taken by Astronaut Harrison Schmitt during Apollo 17, 43 years ago, which also showed Africa prominently in the picture.”

In this composite image we see Earth appear to rise over the lunar horizon from the viewpoint of the spacecraft, with the center of the Earth just off the coast of Liberia (at 4.04 degrees North, 12.44 degrees West). The large tan area in the upper right is the Sahara Desert, and just beyond is Saudi Arabia. The Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America are visible to the left. On the moon, we get a glimpse of the crater Compton, which is located just beyond the eastern limb of the moon, on the lunar farside.

LRO was launched on June 18, 2009, and has collected a treasure trove of data with its seven powerful instruments, making an invaluable contribution to our knowledge about the moon. LRO experiences 12 earthrises every day; however the spacecraft is almost always busy imaging the lunar surface so only rarely does an opportunity arise such that its camera instrument can capture a view of Earth. Occasionally LRO points off into space to acquire observations of the extremely thin lunar atmosphere and perform instrument calibration measurements. During these movements sometimes Earth (and other planets) pass through the camera’s field of view and dramatic images such as the one shown here are acquired.

This image was composed from a series of images taken Oct. 12, when LRO was about 83 miles (134 kilometers) above the moon’s farside crater Compton. Capturing an image of the Earth and moon with LRO’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) instrument is a complicated task. First the spacecraft must be rolled to the side (in this case 67 degrees), then the spacecraft slews with the direction of travel to maximize the width of the lunar horizon in LROC’s Narrow Angle Camera image. All this takes place while LRO is traveling faster than 3,580 miles per hour (over 1,600 meters per second) relative to the lunar surface below the spacecraft!

The high-resolution Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) on LRO takes black-and-white images, while the lower resolution Wide Angle Camera (WAC) takes color images, so you might wonder how we got a high-resolution picture of the Earth in color. Since the spacecraft, Earth, and moon are all in motion, we had to do some special processing to create an image that represents the view of the Earth and moon at one particular time. The final Earth image contains both WAC and NAC information. WAC provides the color, and the NAC provides high-resolution detail.

“From the Earth, the daily moonrise and moonset are always inspiring moments,” said Mark Robinson of Arizona State University in Tempe, principal investigator for LROC. “However, lunar astronauts will see something very different: viewed from the lunar surface, the Earth never rises or sets. Since the moon is tidally locked, Earth is always in the same spot above the horizon, varying only a small amount with the slight wobble of the moon. The Earth may not move across the ‘sky’, but the view is not static. Future astronauts will see the continents rotate in and out of view and the ever-changing pattern of clouds will always catch one’s eye, at least on the nearside. The Earth is never visible from the farside; imagine a sky with no Earth or moon – what will farside explorers think with no Earth overhead?”

NASA’s first Earthrise image was taken with the Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft in 1966. Perhaps NASA’s most iconic Earthrise photo was taken by the crew of the Apollo 8 mission as the spacecraft entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve Dec. 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts — Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders — held a live broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and moon as seen from their spacecraft. Said Lovell, “The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth.”

History, Space participation, The Moon

Seeds descended from the Apollo 14 “Moon Trees” to go to the lunar surface

UK space activist Phill Parker sent the following announcement to me about his latest project:

UK Man to Send Apollo 14 Moon Trees Back to the Moon in 2017 –
This Time to Land on the Moon!

Apollo 14 launched in the late afternoon of January 31, 1971 on what was to be the third US manned trip to the lunar surface. Five days later astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell landed in their Lunar Module “Antares” and walked on the Moon at the Fra Mauro region exploring “Cone Crater” while their colleague and fellow astronaut, Stuart Roosa, a former U.S. Forest Service smoke jumper, orbited above the Moon in the command module “Kitty Hawk”.

Packed in small containers in Roosa’s personal kit were hundreds of tree seeds, part of a joint NASA/USFS project. Upon return to Earth, the seeds were germinated by the US Forest Service. Known as the “Moon Trees“, the resulting seedlings were planted throughout the United States (often as part of the nation’s bicentennial in 1976) and some parts of the world. They stand as a tribute to astronaut Roosa and the Apollo program. [See NASA’s Moon Trees website.]

MoonSycamoreClick for larger image

The project began after Roosa was chosen for the Apollo 14 mission. Ed Cliff, Chief of the Forest Service, knew of Stuart Roosa from his days as a smoke jumper and contacted him about bringing seeds into space. Stan Krugman of the Forest Service was put in charge of the project and selected the seeds for the experiment. Seeds were chosen from five different types of trees: Loblolly Pine, Sycamore, Sweetgum, Redwood, and Douglas Fir. The seeds were classified and sorted, and control seeds were kept on Earth for later comparison.

Roosa carried about 400 – 500 seeds in his personal kit which stayed with him as he orbited the Moon in the command module “Kitty Hawk” in February, 1971. The seeds were then sent to the southern Forest Service station in Gulfport, Mississippi and to the western station in Placerville, California to attempt germination. Surprisingly, nearly all the seeds germinated successfully, and the Forest Service had some 420 to 450 seedlings after a few years (some from cuttings). Some of these were planted with their earth-bound counterparts as controls, (as would be expected, after over twenty years there is no discernible difference) but most were given away in 1975 and 1976 to many state forestry organizations to be planted as part of the nation’s bicentennial celebration.

1280px-The_Apollo_14_Prime_Crew_-_GPN-2000-001168Stuart Roosa, Alan Shepard, and Edgar Mitchell

Astronaut Stuart Roosa was born on 16 August 1933, in Durango, Colorado. He worked for the Forest Service in the early 1950’s as a smoke jumper fighting fires and later joined the US Air Force and became a test pilot. He was one of 19 people selected for the astronaut class of 1966 and was part of the astronaut support crew for Apollo 9. Following Apollo 14, Roosa was backup command module pilot for Apollo’s 16 and 17. He then worked on the Space Shuttle program until his retirement as a Colonel in the Air Force in 1976, the time when many of his trees were being planted.

Sadly, Stuart Roosa passed away in December, 1994. The Moon Trees continue to flourish, a living monument to our first visits to the Moon and a fitting memorial to Stuart Roosa.

Now, nearly 45 years later since the original Apollo 14 Moon Tree seeds were flown around the Moon, spaceflight enthusiast Phill Parker – from Newcastleunder- Lyme, Staffordshie,UK – is flying some more Moon Tree generational Sycamore seeds from the original Moon Tree seeds back to the Moon in 2017 aboard the Astrobotic Griffin Moon Mission One. This will act as a further tribute to astronaut Stuart Roosa and the US Apollo Project . But this time not just to orbit the Moon but to actually land them on the surface of the Moon for the first time in the lunar region called Lacus Mortis!

PhillParkersMoonSycamoreSeedsPhill Parker’s Apollo 14 Moon Tree Generational
Sycamore seeds that are set to be flown aboard the
Astrobotic Griffin lunar lander in 2017.

The Griffin unmanned lunar lander will be launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida in 2017.

LacusMortisRegionOnTheMoon

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Phill Parker authored many Apollo manned lunar landing articles for the British Interplanetary Society in the 1960s-70s – several of which are cited in NASA’s official Apollo Bibliography and,additionally, founded the West European Space Colony Society in 1975 which later merged with the prestigious US National Space Society (NSS). He has produced many spaceflight exhibitions at museums in the UK and delivered over 750 talks on space missions across UK since 1964, as well as writing dozens of articles on spaceflight.

DIY space, Future space, The Moon

SpaceIL books trip to the Moon + Video: Seminar on lunar elevators

The SpaceIL team in the Google Lunar X PRIZE is a volunteer, not-for-profit Israel-based organization that just became the first participant in the GLXP to get a verified booking on a rocket: Israeli Google Lunar XPRIZE Team Is First to Sign Launch Agreement For Private Mission to the Moon On SpaceX Falcon 9 – Google Lunar XPRIZE.

The team’s lunar explorer will get into space via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the second half of 2017.

Check out their latest newsletter: We Have Been Waiting for this Moment for Five Years!

This video describes how they came up with the new design for the lander, which will use its propulsion system to hop to other spots on the surface:

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Someday spacecraft and cargo may go from an in-space transport node down to and back up from the Moon’s surface via a lunar space elevator. Here is a talk about how such an elevator could be built: Lunar Elevator – Seminar at NASA Ames.

For more details, see Lunar Elevator – LiftPort Group.

History, Space Collecting, The Moon

Dave Scott’s watch worn on the Moon sells for $1,625,000

I posted here earlier that the watch worn by astronaut Dave Scott on the lunar surface was up for auction. The auction resulted in a record setting price for an astronaut memorabilia item: RR Auction: Past Auction Item – Item 9001 – Apollo 15 Lunar Surface Chronograph –

Minimum Bid: $50,000.00
Sold Price: $1,625,000.00

Apollo15_watch4

Robert Pearlman says the buyer’s identity was not revealed: Astronaut’s watch worn on the moon sells for record $1.6 million – collectSPACE

The Bulova timepiece, which Apollo 15 commander David Scott wore during NASA’s fourth successful lunar landing mission in 1971, was sold by RR Auction of Boston for an astronomical $1,625,000 to businessman from Florida who wished to remain anonymous. The sale, which opened at $50,000 online on Oct. 15, ended Thursday evening during a live auction where the winner and his competing bidders participated by phone.

Scott, who also called in, listened as his very-well-traveled watch soared in a span of just five minutes from $475,000 to the hammer of $1.3 million (the $1.625 million includes the buyer’s premium charged by the auction house).

This substantially beats the previous record for an astronaut item sale:

The previous record was for a cuff checklist used by Charles Conrad, the third man to walk on the moon, which reportedly sold for $1.3 million to a private buyer in 2001.

Only Russian spacecraft have gotten higher prices in auctions of Moon Race era items.

Pearlman points to another Apollo timepiece that will be going up for auction later this year: Omega Speedmaster 50 – Christie’s.

However, this watch, owned by Ron Evans of the Apollo 17 mission, stayed in orbit in the command module and did not go down to the lunar surface.

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Here is a statement from RR Auctions about this auction:

Dave Scott’s Apollo 15 watch sold for $1.6M at auction
Only privately owned watch worn on the Moon

BOSTON, MA – (October, 23 15) Dave Scott’s Apollo 15 lunar surface-worn chronograph watch sold for $1,625,000 according to Boston-based RR Auction.

Of the dozen men that have stepped foot on the moon, all wore the standard Omega Speedmasters. Officially issued by NASA, those Omegas are acknowledged as government property; many, including Dave Scott’s used during his first two moonwalks, are housed in institutions.

This leaves Commander Scott’s Bulova Chronograph as the singular lunar surface-worn watch in private hands.

After the second moonwalk, Scott noticed that the crystal of his Omega had popped off when he returned to the cabin, therefore he needed to call upon his own personal backup watch, the Bulova watch.

The Bulova Wrist Chronograph was worn during his third and final moonwalk of the mission.  As Commander Scott stepped onto the moon for his final lunar excursion, he wore this watch. When he saluted the American flag against the background of the majestic expanse of Hadley Delta, this watch adorned his left wrist.

https://youtu.be/GHzHSDCcesE

“Among the decisions I made, the monitoring of time was perhaps most important,” Commander Dave Scott stated in a detailed five-page letter that accompanied the sale.

Apollo 15’s third lunar excursion—lasting 4 hours, 49 minutes, 50 seconds—was perhaps the most reliant on time expenditures, as Dave Scott and Jim Irwin conscientiously balanced their resources before departure, and eventual journey home. The watch, exhibits significant wear from exposure while on the Moon, and from splashdown and recovery.

“We are extremely pleased with the results and honored to have been able to offer such an historically important timepiece—the only American-made watch that was worn on the surface of the Moon,” said Bobby Livingston, Executive VP at RR Auction.

Highlights from the sale include, but are not limited by:

  • Gordon Cooper’s Mercury 9 Flight Plan Roller, sold for $89,775.
  • Apollo 16 Flown Cover, sold for $76,772.
  • Dave Scott’s Apollo 15 Lunar Surface-Used Rover map, sold for $37,485.
  • Buzz Aldrin’s Apollo 11 ‘Type 2’ Flown Cover, sold for $36,111.

Online bidding for The Space and Aviation Autograph from RR Auction began on October 15 and concluded on October 22. At 7:00 pm ET, a single lot live auction of Dave Scott’s watch took place at RR Auction’s Boston Gallery. More details, including results can be found online at www.rrauction.com.

Multiple media, Space Arts, The Moon

Video: “Bringing NASA’s Apollo Archive photos to life”

High definition video wasn’t available during the Apollo trips to the Moon but the mission photos often have very high resolution. Here is an interesting video by Tom Kucy in which he adds slight motions to such photos that result in at least a hint of a more vivid view of those adventures.

GROUND CONTROL is a small personal project, bringing NASA’s Apollo Archive photos to life. With the intention of bring more missions life, stay tuned for more.