Lunar Exploration:
The Next Frontier
Lunar exploration timeline
500 BC
Naked eye
observations;
Size, Orbital
characteristics,
Composition
1600 AD
Telescopic
observations;
Physical
characteristics
1990-2006 AD
1800 AD
Photographic
maps;
Origin of
craters & maria
Chemical
composition,
Magnetic
characteristics,
Presence of
water
1957 – 1976 AD
2007 AD
US & USSR
Landings
Composition of
lunar surface
Multinational
effort to
return to the
moon
Greeks
• Anaxagorus, c. 450 BC Moon reflects Sun’s light
• Democritus, c. 400 BC Markings were mountains
• Aristarchus and
Hipparchus, c. 200 BC Measurements for size and
distance
Early Understanding
• Distance to Moon
– Greeks: 375,000 – 460,000 km
– Present: 384,400 km
• Circumference:
– Greeks: 14,000 km
– Present: 10,916 km
• Orbital Period: 27.3 days
• Nature
– Stone sphere with an irregular surface
The 17th Century
• Galileo Galilei – Started
telescopic observation
of the sky in 1610
• Robert Hooke Experimentally modeled
lunar craters
• Cassini - Best map of
moon at the time
Pre-Space Program
• Grove Karl Gilbert – In
1893 correctly stated origin
of craters and nature of
maria, later proved by
Ralph Belknap Baldwin
• Better maps thanks to
photographry, culminating
in 1935, with Fred E
Wright’s lunar globes
Telescopic Discoveries
•
•
•
•
•
Lunar surface marked by craters and maria.
No water and no discernable atmosphere.
Impact origin of craters.
Basalt composition of maria.
Photographic plates increase accuracy of maps.
Space Age Begins
• Sputnik 1, launched
October 4, 1957, was
the first artificial
satellite
• Yuri Alekseyevich
Gagarin
– On April 12, 1961
became the first man
in space aboard the
Vostok 1
– Spent 1 hour, 48
minutes in space
America’s First Steps
• Project Mercury
– Ran from 1959 to 1963
– On May 5, 1961, put Alan
Shepard into space for 15
minutes and 28 seconds,
the first American in space
– Later John Glenn became
the first American to orbit
Earth
• On Sept 12, 1962,
President Kennedy rallied
the American public
behind the “space race”
Soviet Lunar Contact
• January of 1959, the Soviet
Union sent their first mission
to the moon - Luna 1 did not
impact as intended, and was
instead the first lunar flyby
• Luna 2 crashed as planned
near Archimedes in Sept.
• Luna 3 returned the first
photos (very poor) of the far
side in October.
American Lunar Contact
• Ranger 4, launched in
April,1962, is the first
and still only contact
with far side (intended
to hit nearside!)
• Ranger 7 successfully
crash landed in July,
1964; sent real-time
high resolution photos
of Mare Cognitum
Soft Contacts
• Luna 9
– Feb, 1966
– First soft landing
• Surveyor I
– June, 1966
– First study of lunar rocks
and soils from a US soft
lander.
New Perspectives
• Lunar Orbiter 4
– May, 1967
– Most widely used lunar
images ever obtained
• Surveyor 6
– Nov, 1967
– First spacecraft to take off
from Moon (hopped 8 ft for
stereo views)
The Apollo Program
• Apollo 1
– Jan 27, 1967
– Fire kills three astronauts
Program continues
cautiously, using first
unmanned and later
manned missions
from 1967-69 to test
all the moon landing
technology.
Apollo 11
• Apollo 11
– July 20, 1969
– Neil Armstong, Buzz Aldrin,
and Michael Collins
– "One small step for (a) man,
one giant leap for mankind."
The End of an Era
• Apollo missions continued landing men on the
moon, closing with Apollo 17 in 1972. The Soviets
never sent a manned mission to the moon.
• Luna 24
– USSR
– 1976
– last lunar probe for
25 years. Brought
back samples of
lunar soil.
New Insights
• Astronauts experienced no atmosphere and low
gravity
• Seismic stations installed – crust about 10%
volume
• 382 kg of rock and soil from Apollo and Luna
missions
• Regolith consists of mineral dust and rock
fragments; the marias are basalt
• Old rocks allow study of Solar System history
Current Programs
• Hiten
– Jan, 1990
– Japanese Lunar Orbiter
– Failed to send back data.
• Clementine
– US Lunar Orbiter
– 1994
– Multi-spectral imaging of
the entire lunar surface.
Current Programs
• Lunar Prospector
– US, 1998
– Global mapping of
radioactivity and elemental
composition
– Discovered polar water ice
• Smart 1
– Europe, 2003
– Tested the solar-powered ion
thruster
Future: 2007 and beyond
• SELENE, LUNAR-A – Japanese projects to
study the Moon’s origin, evolution and
tectonics.
• Chang‘e 1 - Chinese
lunar orbiter
• Chandrayaan 1 - Indian
lunar orbiter and
impactor
The Vision for Space Exploration
• The US plans to return to the
moon.
• The Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter, developed at
Goddard Space Flight
Center, is to be launched in
2008.
• A new Crew Exploration
Vehicle is being designed,
with new boosters to get it
and additional payloads to
the moon.
Future for the US
• In the next year:
– Orbital research using Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter satellite
– Develop Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV)
– Carry out robotic exploration of lunar surface
• Complete ISS by 2010
• First crewed flights by 2014
• Extended human missions as early as
2015
• Human exploration no later than 2020