September 7, 2011
Back On the Moon Again
LRO image from NASA Press Release
They didn't sent a longer focus lens up to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter but they did lower its orbit. By temporarily increasing the
eccentricity of LRO's orbit the space crater was brougnt down within 22 km on the lunar surface during most of August, returning to its
nominal near-circular 50 km orbit two days ago. Incidentaly, the Lunar Prospector flew within 15 km of the surface back in 1999 to
improve it geophysical measurements. The main reason for the lowering of LRO's orbit was to capture a nearside WAC mosaic with an
average resolution of 50 m/pixel, compared to the previous 75 m/pixel coverage. The orbit-lowering was also designed to nearly double
the NAC resolution (at least in one direction) for the Apollo landing sites, and the first three hyper-closeup images (Ap 12, 14 and 17)
were released yesterday. This new view of the Apollo 17 site is so closeup that the dramatic scenery of the surrounding mountains is
not included, but there is better resolution of the tracks made by the astronauts and their rover. This permits a more accurate tracking
of exactly where they went on EVAs so that the locations of samples can be pinpointed and their geologic setting better understood.
Considering that the wheels of the rover are visible in others of these new landing site views these images would also reveal astronauts
in their bulky spacesuits if any happened to be on the surface. Alas, LRO is 40 years too late (even with the fantasy of Apollo 18).
Chuck Wood
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