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Moon Exploration: Decades of Data and Discoveries

Learn about key spacecraft missions to the Moon, historical achievements, scientific insights gained, ongoing and future missions, challenging questions, and archiving lessons for lunar data.

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Moon Exploration: Decades of Data and Discoveries

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  1. Spacecraft Exploration of the Moon(Almost) 50 Years of DataDave Williams, National Space Science Data Center

  2. Luna 1 Launched 2 January 1959 - Two days after the end of IGY USSR First Lunar Flyby - Passed within 6000 km of the Moon on 4 January Carried Magnetometers, Scintillation and Geiger Counters

  3. Luna 2 Launched 12 September 1959 USSR First Lunar Impact Impacted Moon on 14 September

  4. Luna 3 Launched 4 October 1959 USSR First images of the far side of the Moon Took 29 television images on 7 October

  5. Ranger Missions Ranger 1 - 23 August 1961 Failed to leave Earth orbit Ranger 2 - 18 November 1961 Failed to leave Earth orbit Ranger 3 - 26 January 1962 Contact lost, missed Moon Ranger 4 - 23 April 1962 Sequencer failed, impacted Moon Ranger 5 - 18 October 1962 Contact lost, missed Moon Ranger 6 - 30 January 1964 Cameras failed, impacted Moon

  6. Rangers 7, 8, and 9 Launched between mid-1964 and early 1965 All three missions were successful and returned close-up images of the lunar surface.

  7. Surveyor 1 Launched 30 May 1966 USA First US soft landing on the Moon - on 2 June, four months after Luna 9

  8. 7 out of 9 Surveyors were successful

  9. Lunar Orbiter 1 Launched 10 August 1966 USA First US spacecraft to orbit the Moon Imaged lunar surface for future landing sites

  10. Five Lunar Orbiters returned images covering 99% of the Moon

  11. Apollo 11 July 1969 USA First astronauts to land and set foot on the Moon

  12. Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP)

  13. Apollo 17 December 1972 USA Final Apollo mission to the Moon

  14. Post-Apollo Soviet landers, rovers, and robotic sample returns until 1976. Two Lunokhod rover missions and three sample returns followed the Apollo 11 landing.

  15. Later Missions • Hiten - Japan 1994 Clementine - U.S. • Lunar Prospector - U.S. 2003 SMART-1 - E.S.A.

  16. What we've learned about the Moon Mostly highlands - anorthosite rich heavily cratered (older) regions Mare - dark basalt lava flows, younger than highlands, most on near side of Moon Center of mass offset 2 km towards Earth Very small metallic core, few volatiles Hydrogen (probably water ice) at the poles Oxygen isotopes match Earth

  17. A Brief History of the Moon Large Mars-size body impacts nearly formed Earth, "Big Splat" ejects material into space Some of this material goes into Earth orbit, coalesces to form the Moon Magma ocean solidifies on Moon, anorthosite crust forms Cratering and late heavy bombardment to 3.8 billion years ago Mare lavas erupt, fill basins, 3.6 to 3.2 b.y.a.

  18. Major Questions • Is the large impact theory correct? • Why are the maria, the thin crust, and the center of mass on the Earth-facing side? • Is the Moon still internally active? • Is there water ice at the poles, and what form does it take? • How was the earliest highland crust formed? • How long did mare volcanism last?

  19. Current Missions Japan 2007 Kaguya - Lunar Orbiter and Subsatellites China 2007 Chang'e 1 - Lunar Orbiter

  20. 2008 Missions India Chandrayaan 1 - Lunar Orbiter U.S. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

  21. Lunar Data ProjectPDS Lunar Data Node • Restore Older Lunar Data Archived in Inhospitable Formats • Identify and Retrieve Unarchived Lunar Data • Make Data Generally Digitally Accessible • Avoid Repeating Experiments • Use New Data Analysis Techniques and Hardware • Explore Environmental Hazards • Help Define Safe Landing Sites

  22. Archiving Lessons Learned • Leverage is needed to get data archived • Money needs to be dedicated at the instrument level • Calibration data must be saved with the actual data • Metadata is critical and must be carefully preserved • Document other details of operation (quirky behavior, environment changes) • Track versions of data

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