July 20, 1969 marks the date of the American moon landing and most likely one of the greatest accomplishments of our time. On this date, the Apollo 11 mission touched down in the Mare Tranquillitatis near the equator of the moon. Neal Armstrong climbed down the ladder of the Lunar Module uttering the now famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one . . . giant leap for mankind.” And the rest is, as they say, history; or is it? Not everyone agrees.
To this day, there are people in the world who do not believe man has actually landed on the surface of the moon. This small group of the populous holds to the belief that the entire moon landing, and all evidence supporting such an event, is part of an elaborate hoax. I am not here to support this opinion, nor am I here to debunk it. I do, however, offer up a scientific solution to the debate.
The United States of America says that, from 1969 through 1972, they landed manned missions on the moon six separate times. Let’s look at what is being handed to us as truth.
• On July 20, 1969 the Apollo 11 mission touched down at 0° 40′ 26.69″ N Latitude, 23° 28′ 22.69″ E Longitude; in the Sea of Tranquility, leaving the Eagle Lander when departing for Earth.1
• On November 19, 1969 the Apollo 12 mission touched down at 3° 0′ 44.60″ S Latitude, 23° 25′ 17.65″ W Longitude; in the Ocean of Storms, leaving the Intrepid Lander when departing for Earth. 2
• On January 31, 1971 the Apollo 14 mission touched down at 3° 38′ 43.08″ S Latitude, 17° 28′ 16.90″ W Longitude; in Fra Mauro, leaving the Antares Lander behind when departing for Earth. 3
• On July 30, 1971 the Apollo 15 mission touched down at 26° 7′ 55.99″ N Latitude, 3° 38′ 1.90″ E Longitude; in Hadley Rille, leaving the Falcon Lander and a Lunar Rover behind when departing for Earth. 4
• On April 21, 1972 the Apollo 16 mission touched down at 8° 58′ 22.84″ S Latitude, 15° 30′ 0.68″ E Longitude; in Descartes Highlands, leaving the Orion Lander and a Lunar Rover behind when departing for Earth. 5
• On December 11, 1972 the Apollo 17 mission touched down at 20° 11′ 26.88″ N Latitude, 30° 46′ 18.05″ E Longitude; in Taurus-Littrow, leaving the Challenger Lander and a Lunar Rover behind when departing for Earth. 6
Listed above are six different, precise geographical locations on the lunar surface, along with descriptions of one to two pieces of moderate sized equipment supposedly left at each location. A Lunar Lander measures 4.27 meters (14 feet) in diameter, 6.37 meters (20.9 feet) in height, and has a landing gear span of 9.07 meters (29.75 feet). A Lunar Rover, on the other hand, measures 3 meters (10 feet) long with a wheel base of 2.3 meters (7.5 feet). At its tallest point the Lunar Rover measures 1.1 meters (3.75 feet). 7 If one were to orbit the moon and sought to photograph either of these items based on their measurements, a camera able to resolve images down to one meter would be needed.
As of the first printing of this article there are two probes equipped with cameras in orbit about the moon, neither of them American. One of the probes in orbit belongs to China, the other to Japan. The space agency of China, CNSA, and Japan, JAXA, are in competition with the United States space program, NASA. ISRO, the Indian Space Agency, has a very aggressive space agenda of its own as well and hopes to join China and Japan in orbit about the moon in early 2008. Let’s focus on what is in orbit now, to begin with, though.
The Japanese space probe, Kaguya, was the first of the current crop of probes to reach orbit about the moon, arriving there in the middle of October this year, taking up orbit at 100km above the surface. Kaguya is equipped with instrumentation for recording HDTV images as well as a Terrain Camera or TC for mapping the lunar surface. The TC has a maximum resolution of 10 meters per pixel. 8 The amazing details revealed by these cameras, in both the still images and the movie clips published to the internet, are certainly worth a few minutes of your time. However, even at maximum resolution, it will not be possible to resolve the images of the landers or rovers on the lunar surface.
China’s Chang’e 1 probe, though, may have something more to offer. The amazing details revealed by Kaguya’s 10 meters per pixel instruments lay to shame the 160 meter per pixel resolution of the Chinese Stereo Mapping Camera. Luckily, there is a laser altimeter aboard the probe, though, with a 1 meter resolution.9 Keep in mind we are speaking altitude and not photography, but given the resolution of one meter and considering the lander is 6.37 meters high over 4.27 meters in length, it may be possible to discern topographical evidence of the lander using this instrument. Why settle for topographical when you can have more, though?
What more is there? Well, we have covered what is there now. Based on the current orbiting probes the nay-sayers will probably find nothing to support or refute their claims regarding a fake moon landing. But what about the “more” I spoke of earlier? That takes us into the future. China and Japan were not the only countries vying for parking spots in orbit about the moon, if you remember. India was also seeking a place among the orbiters photographing and analyzing its surface.
India plans to send the Chandrayaan 1 probe to the moon in April of 2008. Once there, it will take up orbit at 100km, much like the Japanese Kaguya probe. Chandrayaan 1 is equipped with a Terrain Mapping Camera specifically made for mapping the surface of the moon. This camera boasts a resolution twice that of the Kaguya. At 5 meters per pixel10, though, it is still not fine enough to resolve the landers or rovers where they rest on the moon. What’s left, then?
Honestly, it comes back to the United States. They have plans to send their own probe to the moon in October of 2008. This probe, known as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, is equipped with various instrumentation packages to carry out a variety of duties. In this respect it is much like the probes described above from any of the other countries. When we look at the instrument we are most concerned with, though, the LROC, or Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, we find our difference. With a maximum resolution of .5 meters per pixel11 this instrument has the resolving power to photograph the landers and the rovers left on the lunar surface. Even better, one of the mission objectives is to remap the landing areas photographed during the Apollo era for a comparative meteor impact study. We arrive at a winner.
Have we really won, though? Will these images finally put to rest the arguments of nay-sayers once and for all? With almost a year to wait for the mission to launch, I’m not exactly holding my breath. When it gets right down to it, the United States is not a non-biased third party to its own landing. Plus, when a group of people is out to disprove something, almost no amount of proof is ever truly enough. Did Neal climb down that ladder under a canopy of darkness on the surface of the moon, or the metal bars of a NASA sound stage? I think I’ll check out that high definition image of the earth rise from Kaguya again while I wait for a victor on this one.
Your Interstellar Ambassador,
Shane
1 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11
2 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_12
3 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_14
4 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_15
5 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_16
6 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17
7 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lander_%28spacecraft%29
8 – http://www.jaxa.jp/index_e.html
9 – http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/n615709/n772514/n772543/index.html
10 – http://www.isro.org/chandrayaan/htmls/home.htm
11 – http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/
