APOD: Apollo 15 Panorama (2016 Aug 05)

[APOD Robot]

Apollo 15 Panorama

Explanation: On July 31, 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts Jim Iwrin and Dave Scott deployed the first Lunar Roving Vehicle on the Moon. Using it to explore their Hadley-Apennine landing site they spent nearly three days on the Moon while Al Worden orbited above. This digitally stitched panorama shows Scott examining a boulder on the slope of 3.5 kilometer high Mons Hadley Delta to the left of their electric-powered, four-wheel drive vehicle. The sun at his back, Irwin casts the strong shadow to the rover's right. The panoramic view extends farther right to the sunward direction, over Hadley Rille and lunar terrain, revealed in harsh, unfiltered sunlight. In total, the rover traversed 28 kilometers (17 miles) on the lunar surface. The Apollo 15 mission returned about 76 kilograms of moon rocks to planet Earth.

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[Chris Peterson]

Anticipating doubts and questions... yes, the shadows seem unobvious or even impossible. They're not. The image covers 360°, so we'll see shadows in every direction. But note that the image is 4000 pixels wide, and the distance between the Sun and the imager's shadow is about 2000 pixels. So the Sun on the right is directly behind the astronaut with the camera. And the Sun in this image looks like it's to the right of the astronaut at the far left, but actually the Sun is much more to his left (just wrapped around in this particular projection), which is why his shadow points the way it does.

It all makes sense.

[Ann]

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Beaver dam in a cold winter day, -18 Celsius. Photo: Simon Mer.

Gray gray gray. As a color person, I drink color from my surroundings like plants drink water. I hate winter, the season of no color.

And looking at today's APOD makes me feel like I'm dying of colorlessness. I guess the picture is in black and white. But that makes me think of what it would be like if it was in color: not much better.

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The Earth from the Moon. Photo: NASA.

If for any inconceivable reason I were to find myself on the Moon, I would stare and stare and stare at the sky to find some relief from the terrible grayness.

Ann

[heehaw]

But what about that polluted lake in the foreground?

[Dad is watching]

At first glance, it looked like he was reaching into a cooler for a beer... Drinking and driving on the moon for the first time...

Seriously tho. Getting lost on the moon would be a serious problem. What did they use to navigate? Some sort of inertial navigation system or radio beacons? After you are out of site of the landing site, things get a little problematical. What if they 'got lost'? And if the rover had a 'breakdown', could these guys have made it back to the lander on foot? And yes, we already know that this kind of exploration involves risk to life; but somebody had to already thought it all out before blast-off.

[APODFORIST]

Is it true that the astronauts were able to walk back to the lander in case of a loss of the rover? (Enough oxygen and time?)

[rstevenson]

Is it true that the astronauts were able to walk back to the lander in case of a loss of the rover? (Enough oxygen and time?)

From an article at Space.com...

As a safety precaution, the vehicles were also constrained to a distance that, if the rover broke down, the astronauts would have enough resources in their life support systems to walk back to the Lunar Module.

The rovers didn't go straight out away from the landing module, they went wandering around to various nearby interesting sites, so the Moon men were never far away from safety.

Rob

[rstevenson]

If for any inconceivable reason I were to find myself on the Moon, I would stare and stare and stare at the sky to find some relief from the terrible grayness.

You might want to take some "rose-coloured glasses" with you on your next Lunar vacation Ann.

Rob

[APODFORIST]

From an article at Space.com...

As a safety precaution, the vehicles were also constrained to a distance that, if the rover broke down, the astronauts would have enough resources in their life support systems to walk back to the Lunar Module.

Thanks

The rovers didn't go straight out away from the landing module, they went wandering around to various nearby interesting sites, so the Moon men were never far away from safety.
Rob

During Apollo 17 they drove away 5 km "air"-line from the lander. A lot of walking in case of emergency.

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source:

[Cousin Ricky]

During Apollo 17 they drove away 5 km "air"-line from the lander. A lot of walking in case of emergency.

On Earth, that would be only an hour's walk.

[APODFORIST]

During Apollo 17 they drove away 5 km "air"-line from the lander. A lot of walking in case of emergency.

On Earth, that would be only an hour's walk.

Yes. But how would the astronauts navigate back directly? I guess their emergency plan was to walk back on the rovers track in moons dusty surface ...

Difficult if they drove back shortly before reaching to the lander. Or did they had a special kind of beacon?

OK, if they had about 2 hours of oxygen buffer it could work. Better 3 hours. Fortunately the rover worked well.

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[Steve Dutch]

Fake! The shadows point in different directions! Of course, why would even the lighting director of a high school play do such a thing? Also, note that the shadows all converge toward the anti-solar point. Perspective. Also, note how similar the landscape is to Area 51. Apart from the complete absence of vegetation and water-eroded gullies, that is.

[Chris Peterson]

Fake! The shadows point in different directions! Of course, why would even the lighting director of a high school play do such a thing? Also, note that the shadows all converge toward the anti-solar point. Perspective. Also, note how similar the landscape is to Area 51. Apart from the complete absence of vegetation and water-eroded gullies, that is.

And what about that obvious studio light against the "sky"? And the unprofessional way they had to gray out the bits of stage in the foreground that they accidentally got in the shots? And the stars! Don't forget the absence of stars!

[Astronymus]

If for any inconceivable reason I were to find myself on the Moon, I would stare and stare and stare at the sky to find some relief from the terrible grayness.

Ann

Do not worry. There are actually different colors on the moon. The moon soil has slightly different colors caused by different mineral compositions. Yet most pictures of that missions are black and white.

[Ann]

If for any inconceivable reason I were to find myself on the Moon, I would stare and stare and stare at the sky to find some relief from the terrible grayness.

Ann

Do not worry. There are actually different colors on the moon. The moon soil has slightly different colors caused by different mineral compositions. Yet most pictures of that missions are black and white.

Thanks! That's a relief! I could survive my trip to the Moon, then.

Ann

[one eye, but very sharp]

Now, having seen a few photoshops in my time, I can tell by the pixels: this is definitely a 'shopped one.

[Guest]

Looking at this image got me to thinking. What if the rover had a solar charging system and autonomous control system? There are numerous countries who are looking to go to the moon and could use a vehicle to get around. Think of the rental fees that it could generate. It would be great if you could preposition a half dozen such rovers at strategic points on the surface capable of driving to a future landing site of some manned space craft. Big cost, yes, but massive revenue potential. As far as insurance goes, Well, zero deductible.

[Chris Peterson]

If for any inconceivable reason I were to find myself on the Moon, I would stare and stare and stare at the sky to find some relief from the terrible grayness.

Do not worry. There are actually different colors on the moon. The moon soil has slightly different colors caused by different mineral compositions. Yet most pictures of that missions are black and white.

Thanks! That's a relief! :D I could survive my trip to the Moon, then.

Winter need not be colorless, either.

[flonkbob@gmail.com]

I'm always amazed at how homogeneous the regolith is. It is difficult to imagine the sheer number of objects that must have hit the moon to produce that.

I'm so used to the relatively young surface of the earth that this seems even older, and more alien than the gaseous ocean of Jupiter, or the sub-surface sea of Europe. It makes ME feel old just looking at it.

[BMAONE23]

At first glance, it looked like he was reaching into a cooler for a beer... Drinking and driving on the moon for the first time...

Seriously tho. Getting lost on the moon would be a serious problem. What did they use to navigate? Some sort of inertial navigation system or radio beacons? After you are out of site of the landing site, things get a little problematical. What if they 'got lost'? And if the rover had a 'breakdown', could these guys have made it back to the lander on foot? And yes, we already know that this kind of exploration involves risk to life; but somebody had to already thought it all out before blast-off.

Making it back on foot wouldn't have been a problem as they could always follow the Rover Tracks. But, if they were far enough away, their suits would run out of atmosphere before the hike was over.

[Ann]

Do not worry. There are actually different colors on the moon. The moon soil has slightly different colors caused by different mineral compositions. Yet most pictures of that missions are black and white.

Thanks! That's a relief! I could survive my trip to the Moon, then.

Winter need not be colorless, either.

IMAG01773p.jpg

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Photo: Pernemark.

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Photo: Pernemark.

Winter in Malmö looks like this.

It doesn't tickle my sense of color.

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Photo: Christian Andersson

Summer in Malmö doesn't always look like this. But it sure as heck looks better than winter in Malmö.

Ann

[Chris Peterson]

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Winter in Malmö looks like this.

It doesn't tickle my sense of color.

To the rest of the world, Sweden looks like this. What are you complaining about?

[Cousin Ricky]

Winter in the Virgin Islands (among other seasons).

[MarkBour]

If for any inconceivable reason I were to find myself on the Moon, I would stare and stare and stare at the sky to find some relief from the terrible grayness.

Ann

Truly, there's no place like home!

Not that you were talking about this, but if you had grown up on the Moon ... or rather your whole species had grown up on the Moon, perhaps you would have color perception which brought the surface of the Moon into a variety of beautiful shades. However, that same eye may well have left most of Earth's colors in the IR and UV, so the Earth would not look nearly as nice in the sky as it does to us. ("What pale blue dot?" you would say) Continuing such a speculation, perhaps as a color commentator among moon-dwellers, you'd be great at distinguishing light and properties in the range of 600-700 nm.

Getting lost on the moon would be a serious problem. What did they use to navigate? Some sort of inertial navigation system or radio beacons? After you are out of site of the landing site, things get a little problematical. What if they 'got lost'? And if the rover had a 'breakdown', could these guys have made it back to the lander on foot? And yes, we already know that this kind of exploration involves risk to life; but somebody had to already thought it all out before blast-off.

The Lunar Rovers were indeed awesome. I remember the astronauts were rather gutsy drivers, there's a well-known video of Young driving it like a race car (I think he holds the speed record). As to what they would have done if one had broken down, you have to realize that among these guys, the term world-class explorers is actually an understatement. And they were in constant radio contact with NASA, for whom the term world-class support is an understatement. I have read that they were out of line-of-sight from the LEM at times, but they had detailed maps. (Which they actually used in a famous duct-tape repair for one of the rovers on Apollo 17 ... not that it had "broken down" at all.) I guess there was some complaint about how well the maps resembled what they were seeing, but I just can't imagine they would ever have been lost enough that they would have actually needed to retrace steps. The final EVA was a nice circle, crudely speaking. If they were 2/3 of the way around it and were planning to drive it, why would they not have felt they knew where they were going if they had to walk it instead? (http://space.stackexchange.com/question ... it-relaxed).