by neufer » Wed Oct 02, 2019 3:52 pm
neufer wrote: ↑Tue May 22, 2018 5:41 pm
Evenstar wrote: ↑Tue May 22, 2018 5:16 pm
It's a beautiful moon. I forget about the reddish (brownish) colorations--is that iron?
Still, the Moon looks largely grayish. Why? Mars is reddish from so much iron oxidation?
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc-20100910_color_moon.html wrote:
.
<<Colors on the Moon are dominantly controlled by variations in iron and titanium content. The mare regions have low reflectance because they contain
relatively high amounts of iron oxide (FeO). Some mare basalts contain unusually high amounts of titanium oxide (TiO
2) in addition to iron oxide, making for even lower reflectance.
TiO2 also shifts the color of the mare from red to blue.
The distinct boundary between Mare Tranquillitatis (darker and bluer) and
Mare Serenitatis (lighter brown) is clearly visible in the WAC color image and results from high TiO
2 in the Tranquillitatis basalts. Scientists have studied the Tranquillitatis basalts in detail from the rocks returned by the Apollo 11 astronauts; the composition of the Serenitatis rocks are known only from orbital remote sensing. One of the goals of the WAC is to provide a global map of UV and visible reflectance to help scientists better understand the distribution of iron and titanium in the mare. From the Apollo samples, we believe that titanium is dominantly held in the mineral ilmenite. However, we have not sampled the full variety of lunar basalts so we can not be sure - more samples are needed.>>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beresheet wrote:
<<Beresheet was a demonstrator of a small robotic lunar lander and lunar probe operated by the Israel Aerospace Industries. Its aims included promoting careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and landing its magnetometer, digital time capsule, and laser retroreflector on the Moon. The planned landing site was in the north part of the
Mare Serenitatis. The lander's gyroscopes failed on 11 April 2019 causing the main engine to shut off, which caused the lander to crash on the Moon. Final resting position is 32.5956°N, 19.3496°E [check out map above].
The lander was previously known as Sparrow and was officially renamed to "Beresheet" (Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית, "Bərēšīṯ", "In the beginning"; Book of Genesis) in December 2018. Its net mass was 150 kg; when fueled at launch, its mass was 585 kg. It had been compared to a washing machine, as it stood at about the height of one at 1.5 m and was similar in width to large household appliances. It used seven ground stations for earth–lander communication. Beresheet was planned to operate for an estimated two days on the lunar surface, as it had no thermal control and was expected to quickly overheat. However, its laser retroreflector was a passive device requiring no electrical power and was expected to be functional for several decades.
The spacecraft carried a digital "time capsule" containing over 30 million pages of data, including a full copy of the English-language Wikipedia, the
Wearable Rosetta disc, the PanLex database, the Torah, children's drawings, a children's book inspired by the space launch, memoirs of a Holocaust survivor, Israel's national anthem ("Hatikvah"), the Israeli flag, and a copy of the Israeli Declaration of Independence. At the last minute, genetic samples and tardigrades were added in epoxy resin between the digital layers.>>
[quote=neufer post_id=282706 time=1527010915 user_id=124483]
[quote=Evenstar post_id=282704 time=1527009398 user_id=129393]
It's a beautiful moon. I forget about the reddish (brownish) colorations--is that iron?
Still, the Moon looks largely grayish. Why? Mars is reddish from so much iron oxidation?[/quote][quote=" https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc-20100910_color_moon.html"]
[float=left][img3="Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image from September 10, 2010 km wide. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University"]https://www.nasa.gov/images/content/482296main_201009102b.jpg[/img3][/float]
.
<<Colors on the Moon are dominantly controlled by variations in iron and titanium content. The mare regions have low reflectance because they contain [b][u][color=#FF8040]relatively high amounts of iron oxide (FeO)[/color][/u][/b]. Some mare basalts contain unusually high amounts of titanium oxide (TiO[sub]2[/sub]) in addition to iron oxide, making for even lower reflectance.[b][u][color=#0000FF] TiO[sub]2[/sub] also shifts the color of the mare from red to blue[/color][/u][/b].
The distinct boundary between Mare Tranquillitatis (darker and bluer) and [b][u][color=#FF8040]Mare Serenitatis (lighter brown)[/color][/u][/b] is clearly visible in the WAC color image and results from high TiO[sub]2[/sub] in the Tranquillitatis basalts. Scientists have studied the Tranquillitatis basalts in detail from the rocks returned by the Apollo 11 astronauts; the composition of the Serenitatis rocks are known only from orbital remote sensing. One of the goals of the WAC is to provide a global map of UV and visible reflectance to help scientists better understand the distribution of iron and titanium in the mare. From the Apollo samples, we believe that titanium is dominantly held in the mineral ilmenite. However, we have not sampled the full variety of lunar basalts so we can not be sure - more samples are needed.>>[/quote][/quote][quote=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beresheet]
[float=left][img3=Crash site of Beresheet as seen by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Beresheet_Crash_Site_Spotted_LRO_02.gif/1024px-Beresheet_Crash_Site_Spotted_LRO_02.gif[/img3][/float]
<<Beresheet was a demonstrator of a small robotic lunar lander and lunar probe operated by the Israel Aerospace Industries. Its aims included promoting careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and landing its magnetometer, digital time capsule, and laser retroreflector on the Moon. The planned landing site was in the north part of the [b][u][color=#FF8040]Mare Serenitatis[/color][/u][/b]. The lander's gyroscopes failed on 11 April 2019 causing the main engine to shut off, which caused the lander to crash on the Moon. Final resting position is 32.5956°N, 19.3496°E [check out map above].
The lander was previously known as Sparrow and was officially renamed to "Beresheet" (Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית, "Bərēšīṯ", "In the beginning"; Book of Genesis) in December 2018. Its net mass was 150 kg; when fueled at launch, its mass was 585 kg. It had been compared to a washing machine, as it stood at about the height of one at 1.5 m and was similar in width to large household appliances. It used seven ground stations for earth–lander communication. Beresheet was planned to operate for an estimated two days on the lunar surface, as it had no thermal control and was expected to quickly overheat. However, its laser retroreflector was a passive device requiring no electrical power and was expected to be functional for several decades.
The spacecraft carried a digital "time capsule" containing over 30 million pages of data, including a full copy of the English-language Wikipedia, the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Project]Wearable Rosetta disc[/url], the PanLex database, the Torah, children's drawings, a children's book inspired by the space launch, memoirs of a Holocaust survivor, Israel's national anthem ("Hatikvah"), the Israeli flag, and a copy of the Israeli Declaration of Independence. At the last minute, genetic samples and tardigrades were added in epoxy resin between the digital layers.>>[/quote]