Eugene A. "Gene" Cernan, USN Ret. (1934-2017)

Among the very last photographs ever taken on the Moon, immediately following a third and final EVA at Taurus Littrow, December 1972, Harrison Schmitt captured a gritty, dusty Apollo 17 cmdr Gene Cernan, just after their retreat to the relative safety of their lander. Findings from the Apollo landings demonstrates the challenge presented by the course fineness of lunar dust to human and spacecraft health. Astronauts report the lunar surface material smelled a bit like ozone and gunpowder.  Cernan, 82, passed away January 16, 2017 [NASA/JSC].

LADEE analysis maps lopsided meteoric dust cloud (June 26, 2015)
Apollo 17 samples further refine bombardment timeline (February 13, 2015)
Earth rising (May 15, 2014)
Range of Reactions to the Chang'e-3 Landing (December 18, 2013)
Snapshots from the Moon and Cislunar Space (July 25, 2013)
Apollo 17, Station 6 (December 15, 2013)
Oblique view of Taurus Littrow, from the West (December 19, 2012)
Apollo 17 lands, ending the Apollo era, 40 years ago (December 11, 2012)
Approach To Taurus Littrow Valley (December 11, 2012)
The last manned launch to the Moon (December 7, 2011)
Taurus Littrow Oblique (September 29, 2012)
Question Answered! (July 17, 2012)
Just Another Crater? (December 13, 2011)
Skimming the Moon (September 6, 2011)
Exploring the Apollo 17 Site (October 28, 2009)

Measuring almost nothing, looking for the almost invisible

NASA's LADEE spacecraft entered it's 250 km Commissioning phase orbit October 12 [NASA/JAXA].

Paul D. Spudis

The Once and Future Moon
Smithsonian Air & Space

Launched last month from the Wallops Island site, LADEE (for Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) will spend the next few months orbiting the Moon.  This small spacecraft will attempt to characterize and measure the lunar “atmosphere,” while also looking for dust that might be electrostatically levitated above the surface or thrown into ballistic flight by impacts.

Wait a minute.  Did I say “atmosphere?”  Isn’t the Moon renowned for its lack of an atmosphere?  Indeed it is.  In fact, the 10-12 torr surface pressure of the Moon is a better vacuum than we can achieve with even the most advanced equipment in Earth laboratories.  (For comparison, sea level pressure on the Earth is about 760 torr, making the lunar surface pressure over one hundred trillion times less dense.)  A better term for the tenuous gas near the Moon is “exosphere,” meaning free flying gas molecules that may or may not be gravitationally bound to the Moon.  In such an “atmosphere,” there may be only a few thousand molecules in a cubic centimeter of space. This is very tenuous indeed.

  

After the Commissioning phase of its mission is complete, the spacecraft's current 250 km circular orbit will be reduced further down to within 50 km to begin its 100 day Science Mission [NASA/GSFC].

LADEE is designed to investigate from where these atoms and molecules come.  Presently, we think the lunar exosphere consists mostly of helium, sodium and perhaps argon atoms, each coming from a completely different source.  Helium likely comes from the Sun, as the solar wind continually “breathes” onto the surface of the Moon.  Some atoms stick to surface dust grains but many simply bounce off, randomly moving in the space above the lunar surface.  Easy to detect, lunar sodium has been observed from Earth-based telescopes.  It most likely comes from rocks vaporized by the continual rain of micrometeorites.  At least some fraction of this vaporous sodium must hang around the surface, unable to escape the Moon.  Argon might have a solar wind origin, but at least some of it comes from the natural decay of radioactive potassium in the lunar interior (potassium-40 (40K) decays to argon-40 (40Ar) with a half-life of a bit more than one billion years).  Gases like argon, venting from the interior of the Moon, were observed by subsatellites left in lunar orbit by the departing Apollo spacecraft over 40 years ago (these small spacecraft have long since crashed into the Moon).

Although helium, sodium and argon are the principal expected components of the lunar exosphere, the LADEE team will search for other species.  An interesting possibility is water (H2O) or its related species, hydroxyl (OH).  One of the most surprising results of recent lunar exploration was the discovery of adsorbed (surface) water and hydroxyl on the dust grains of the lunar surface (observed by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) aboard the Indian Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter in 2009).  Occurring in the form of a monolayer of molecules on dust grains in the cooler portions of the Moon, a clear water signal is best seen above latitudes of 65° and increasing in strength (i.e., increasing water abundance) toward each pole.

The surprise from M3 was not only the presence of water but observing that its abundance increases with decreasing surface temperatures.  This means that water being made or deposited on the surface is in motion, with a net movement toward the poles.  Chandrayaan-1 also carried an impact probe with a mass spectrometer.  During the probe’s half-hour descent to the South Pole, it passed through a cloud of water in space, just above the lunar surface.  The water cloud at this high latitude had a density a hundred times higher than at the equator, providing additional evidence that exospheric water is in motion, moving from lower, hotter latitudes towards higher, cooler ones.

LADEE cannot directly measure this water in a neutral state, but if some process ionizes it (e.g., if a water molecule breaks apart into a proton and a hydroxyl by UV radiation from the Sun), it will be visible to the ultraviolet spectrometer aboard the spacecraft.  If the process of water migration on the lunar surface is correct, we should be able to observe exospheric water and by measuring its density with time, track the water migration to higher latitudes.

Lunar Horizon Glow (LHC) observed for several hours following local sunset from Surveyor 7 and its landing site just north of Tycho crater. [NASA].

LADEE will also tackle another controversial issue – the amounts and mechanisms of dust movement on and around the Moon.  During the unmanned Surveyor lander missions over 40 years ago, a strange illumination or glow was observed by television for several hours after local sunset, just above the horizon.  This phenomenon was termed “horizon glow” by surprised Surveyor investigators.  At a loss to explain it, the team postulated that some mechanism was lofting dust up above the surface and this dust was scattering sunlight.  Exactly how the dust was lofted was uncertain; some thought it must be fragments in ballistic flight from distant impacts, while others thought that it might be levitated by electrostatic force, thus “hovering” above the surface.

Schematic of documented species of Lunar Horizon Glow, including mid-lunar night imagery captured by Surveyor 7 (Horanyi, et.al., The Lunar Dust Environment: Expectations for the LADEE Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX), 43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2012), #2635.

A few years later, just before his orbiting spacecraft emerged into the daylight side of the Moon, Apollo 17 Commander Gene Cernan observed and sketched an illuminated limb and “streamers” that could be seen extending into space above where the lunar horizon would be.  At the time, this phenomenon was thought to be the same as that seen in the Surveyor pictures, although they have totally different scales (the Surveyor horizon glow must occur within a few meters of the surface, while Cernan’s horizon glow extended many kilometers above the Moon). Dust (probably of lunar provenance) is certainly involved in whatever causes this horizon glow.

Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan's sketches and description of horizon glow and streamers observed in lunar orbit, December 1972 [NASA].

As the Moon slowly rotates once every 708 hours, the line between the sunlit and dark hemispheres (the terminator) slowly moves across the lunar surface.  The day and night hemispheres have different fluxes of electrons from the solar wind and thus, the presence of the terminator can induce an electrical charge in surface materials.  It is postulated that this charge might levitate smaller dust particles such that they would hover above the surface.  LADEE will attempt to detect and map this dust, both by searching for scattered sunlight with its ultraviolet spectrometer and via the direct detection of dust particles in flight with an instrument on the top of the orbiting spacecraft.

The issue of levitated dust is thought to be relevant to the future habitation of the Moon.  If dust is lofted above the surface by the passage of the terminator, the particles could degrade clean surfaces and create a hazard for inhabitants of the Moon.  Such a process could have major effects near the poles of the Moon, areas that are in the near-constant presence of a day-night terminator.  Although it is unlikely that levitated dust on the Moon is an environmental hazard, we currently are working in near total absence of hard data.  Thus, it makes sense to at least try to make some direct measurements of the dust environment around the Moon to assess the importance of this proposed surface process.

LADEE arrived in lunar orbit last Sunday. We wish it well on its mission to give us fresh (and welcome) data on a poorly understood aspect of lunar processes and history.

Related Posts:

LADEE, in 250 km orbit, begins commissioning phase (October 15, 2013)
LADEE Away! (September 7, 2013)
LADEE legacies (September 7, 2013)
LADEE Prelaunch Mission Briefing (September 6, 2013)
ESA prepares for LADEE (July 31, 2013)
LADEE arrives at Wallops Island (June 5, 2013)
LADEE ready to baseline dusty lunar exosphere (June 5, 2013)
First laser comm system ready for launch on LADEE (March 16, 2013)
LADEE project manager update (February 6, 2013)
The Mona Lisa test for LADEE communications (January 21, 2013)
Toxicity of lunar dust (July 2, 2012)
Expectations for the LADEE LDEX (March 23, 2012)
The Dust Management Project (August 9, 2010)
LADEE architecture and mission design (July 6, 2010)
DesertRatS testing electrodynamic dust shield (July 5, 2010)
Dust transport and its importance in the origin of lunar swirls (February 21, 2010)
Dust accumulation on Apollo laser reflectors may indicate a surprisingly fast and
   more dynamic lunar exosphere (February 16, 2010)
NASA applies low cost lessons to LADEE (January 18, 2010)
Nanotech advances in lunar dust mitigation (August 19, 2009)
Moon dust hazard influenced by Sun's elevation (April 17, 2009)
LADEE launch by Orbital from Wallops Island (April 14, 2009)
Understanding the activation and solution properties of lunar dust
for future lunar habitation (March 2, 2009)
Respiratory toxicity of lunar highland dust (January 19, 2009)
Toxicological effects of moon dust (June 25, 2008)
Moon dust and duct tape (April 22, 2008)

Originally published October 4, 2013 at his Smithsonian Air & Space blog The Once and Future Moon, Dr. Spudis is a senior staff scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute. The opinions expressed are those of the author but are better informed than average.  

Oblique view of Taurus Littrow, from the West

The magnificent Taurus Littrow valley photographed obliquely, from a point 330 km west by northwest, 131.12 km over central Mare Serenitatis, by the LROC Narrow Angle Camera (NAC). The Apollo 17 crew briefly explored this valley 40 years ago this month. LROC NAC observation M1096343661LR, a field of view roughly 10 km across the center; LRO orbit 13936, July 7, 2012 [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Mark Robinson
Principal Investigator
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera
Arizona State University

In the lower right, South Massif casts a long evening shadow across the mare basalt flooded Taurus Littrow valley. Note the sharp boundary of the flat mare against the slopes of the Sculptured Hills in the background, similar to a lake shoreline, revealing the very fluid nature of the lava when it filled the valley. Your eye is drawn to the sharp line snaking across the bottom of the image. Note how this ridge traverses across the valley floor and up onto the lower slopes of North Massif (lower left). Astonishingly this feature is a large, young fault: imagine the ground in the foreground being pushed to the east and the crust buckling, a whole section was pushed up and onto the back side of the fault (low angle thrust fault). This step in the valley floor was the result of large scale contractional forces pushing the crust together. The landform created by this type of thrust fault is called a lobate scarp, this one is named the Lee Lincoln scarp. The Lee Lincoln scarp has the distinction of being the first and only extraterrestrial fault to be explored by humans. Astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Gene Cernan actually drove the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) up and over this ridge during their three day exploration of the valley.

Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan works next to the LRV at Station 3, near Lara crater, (see labeled detail below). AS17-138-21168 [NASA/Harrison Schmitt].

Where the Lee Lincoln scarp stretches into the highlands of North Massif, it abruptly changes directions and extends along slope far beyond the Apollo 17 landing site (black arrows on full NAC image).  The Lee Lincoln scarp is one of a number of such tectonic landforms that were only found in the high resolution Apollo Panoramic Camera images that covered part of the lunar equatorial zone. In LROC NAC high resolution images, lobate scarps have been discovered across the Moon at all latitudes (Watters and coworkers, 2010). The pristine appearance of the lobate scarps and the fact that the features cut across young, small-diameter craters are evidence that the scarps formed recently, more recently than the young craters they deform. The globally distributed population of lobate scarps is an indication that contractional forces are acting on the lunar crust as a result of slow cooling and shrinking of the still hot interior of the Moon.

West to east Oblique labeled - Central portion LROC NAC oblique showing significant features visited by the Apollo 17 crew, LM is the Lunar Module. North is to the left, and south is to the right. The distance along Lee Lincoln scarp from the shadow to North Massif is 8 km, M1096343661LR [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

It was forty years ago today that the Apollo 17 crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, ending our first period of human exploration of the Moon. The extensive measurements beamed back from LRO every day are setting the stage for the next era in robotic and human exploration of the Moon. Where would you go on the Moon to continue the work of the Apollo crews?

Trace the Lee Lincoln scarp, HERE, as it snakes its way northward, well away from the Taurus Littrow valley (VSC Van Serg Crater, SC Shorty Crater, LM Lunar Module).

Previous Apollo 17 Featured Images:
Approach To Taurus Littrow Valley (December 12, 2012)
Apollo 17 lands, ending the Apollo era, 40 years ago (December 11, 2012)
The last manned launch to the Moon (December 7, 2011)
Taurus Littrow Oblique (September 29, 2012)
Question Answered! (July 17, 2012)
Significant change in bombardment timing (January 6. 2012)
Just another crater? (December 13, 2011)
Skimming the Moon (September 6, 2011)

Exploring the Apollo 17 Site (October 28, 2009)

On the 40th Anniversary of the last Moon Walk

"To mark the 40th anniversary of the last human footsteps on the moon," Andrew Chaikin, author A Man on the Moon (Penguin, 2007), looks back "at Apollo 17's explorations, and I explain why I believe the moon is the solar system's "jewel in the crown," beckoning us to return.

YouTube, Published December 14, 2012

Approach to Taurus Littrow Valley

Taurus Littrow Valley from the east. View similar to what the Apollo 17 astronauts saw as they approached their landing in the magnificent Taurus Littrow Valley. (See "Taurus Littrow Oblique," September 29, 2012) LROC Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) east-to-west oblique image pair, about 18 km wide field of view at center, M192703697LR, LRO orbit 13427, May 26, 2012; spacecraft (and camera) slewed 56.09° west from nadir, native resolution 2.79 meters, from 131.29 km over 20.01°N, 38.78°E [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University]. [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Mark Robinson
Principal Investigator
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC)
Arizona State University

The Apollo 17 astronauts landed in the Taurus Littrow Valley forty years ago today. One of their key science goals was to collect impact melt from the Serenitatis basin rim so an age date for this important basin could be established. Before the samples were returned most lunar geologists believed this basin to be relatively old amongst all lunar basins. When the age dates came in from the Apollo 17 highland impact melt samples it appeared that the Serenitatis basin was younger than previously thought (3.86 billion years), nearly the same age as the mighty Imbrium basin (young in terms of lunar basins!). Jack Schmitt and Gene Cernan sampled rocks from South and North Massifs and the Sculptured Hills, all three thought to be formed as part of the Serenitatis basin impact event.

Taurus Littrow valley to Taurus crater, the upper left corner (NW) is the eastern edge of the mare flooded Serenitatis basin. LROC Wide Angle Camera (WAC) mosaic: SM = South Massiff, NM = North Massif, SH = Sculptured Hills, arrow indicates Apollo 17 landing site, north is up, image field of view is 90 km wide [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

The wisdom at the time was that the old relative age assignment of the Serenitatis basin derived from remotely sensed image data must be wrong. Perhaps the confidence of that interpretation was undermined by the relatively poor resolution of the then-existing orbital image data for much of the eastern portion of the nearside of the Moon.

The new WAC global mosaic and NAC high resolution views are allowing scientists to reevaluate many previously held ideas with much clearer data. A new look at the area around the Serenitatis basin using the geologic rule of superposition (Spudis and coworkers, 2011) with LROC images resulted in a confident determination that the Sculptured Hills are actually far flung ejecta from the Imbrium basin, and not Serenitatis basin material. In the WAC mosaic above you can see the hummocky Sculptured Hills formation on top of Taurus crater. Taurus crater in turn was formed on the rim of Serenitatis basin. Thus the Sculptured Hills formed after the Serenitatis basin formed, likely as ejecta from the Imbrium basin impact event.

Annotated version of the LROC Featured Image of Taurus Littrow valley, in a field of view about 18 km wide in center, small arrow indicates landing site, M192703697LR [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

What does this new finding mean? First, if the Sculptured Hills are really Imbrium ejecta it is possible (or even likely) that the Apollo 17 impact melts do not represent the formation age of the Serenitatis basin, but rather that of the Imbrium basin. If so, the evidence that there was a late cataclysm (a big short spike in impact events) just got a lot weaker. On the other hand, if those impact melts do indeed come form the Serenitatis formation event, the fact that Serenitatis is relatively old amongst lunar basins means the late cataclysm was even more compressed than previously thought! In fact, it would suggest that 13-25 of the larger basins all formed within a short period of 50 million years (short in geologic time). Either way, the new determination of the relative age of the Serenitatis basin results in a radical new evaluation of the sequence of events early in lunar history!

Apollo 17 CM above Taurus Littrow - Hasselblad frame shuttered from the LM Challenger as it passed over the Taurus Littrow Valley, note the command module America just visible in front of South Massif in the middle ground, from AS17-147-22464 [NASA].

Reflecting back on the fortieth anniversary of the last human landing on the Moon, and the new results of LRO and other recent missions, we can see that the Apollo landings were a fantastic start to our exploration of the Moon. Many questions were answered from data and samples collected during the Apollo era. Since then, many new discoveries about the Moon have arrived, and more key science questions have appeared. The work begun by Schmitt and Cernan is now being extended by LRO in preparation for the next generation of lunar explorers. With the LROC data we can now map out the best places to search for outcrops of Serenitatis rock (especially impact melt) and obtain a confident age date for this key basin, which in turn places many of the other the other large basins in their proper absolute age.

Here we have seen one example of how new observations are overturning previously held lunar ideas; there are many more examples! It is certainly an exciting time in lunar science as we more forward in this new era of lunar exploration and pave the way for a future human return to the Moon and then beyond.

Zoom in and examine the full resolution NAC oblique perspective of Taurus Littrow, and find key stratigraphic relations, HERE.

Download the Spudis et al (2012), HERE.

Previous LROC Apollo 17 Featured Images
Shorty Crater
Skimming the Moon
Exploring the Apollo 17 Site

Recent Posts:
Apollo 17 lands, ending the Apollo era, 40 years ago (December 11, 2012)
The last manned launch to the Moon (December 7, 2011)
Taurus Littrow Oblique (September 29, 2012)

Significant change in bombardment timing (January 6. 2012)
Just another crater? (December 13, 2011)

Apollo 17 lands, ending the Apollo era, 40 years ago

Taurus Littrow valley, from an oblique LRO Narrow Angle Camera perspective, a highly reduced original mosaic of the left and right frames of LROC NAC observation M192703697L. On December 11, 1972, Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt descended in the Apollo 17 lunar module, with the terrain at their backs, waiting for the spacecraft to tip forward. Only then could they see the valley rushing up below. For a more detailed view of this spectacular oblique observation from LRO, see Taurus Littrow Oblique, Sept. 29, 2012 [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

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A closer, strikingly similar perspective from the Apollo 17 lunar module Challenger during its their final orbital pass over Taurus Littrow before descent and landing. Ron Evans, now alone, pilots the Command Service Module (CSM) America (center). See the much larger original image HERE (AS17-147-22465) [NASA/JSC].

Post landing pan from Jack Schmitt's window, a picture of a landscape untouched except by the descent stage moments before, later assembled into a high-resolution mosaic by Eric Jones for the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal. View the original version of frames AS17-147-22469 through 22476 at ALSJ, HERE.

Near Station 6 on their third (and final) EVA, Schmidt put Challenger in some perspective, capturing this black and white image through a 500 mm lens from over 3 kilometers away. Though spacecraft since the Apollo era managed to resolve the patch of the surface disturbed by the thrust of the descent stage, the LRO alone was equipped and designed to photograph great detail of the Apollo landing sites from orbit since 2009 [NASA/JSC/ALSJ].

Related Posts:
Jack Schmitt holds fast to lunar vision (November 18, 2012)
Taurus Littrow Oblique (September 29, 2012)
LRO LAMP sharpens Apollo surface helium data (July 17, 2012)
Toxicity of Lunar Dust (July 2, 2012)
39 Years (and counting) (December 14, 2011)
Just another crater? (December 13, 2011)
Apollo metric camera maps completed (November 21, 2011)
Cernan says China will be first back to the Moon (November 8, 2011)
Cernan saw peace on Earth (March 14, 2011)
Too brief an expedition to a lobate scarp (August 24, 2010)
Moon geologically active, cooling and shrinking (August 19, 2010)
Graphite found in Apollo 17 samples (July 5, 2010)
Return to Moon, Schmitt says, important for protection of liberty (June 17, 2010)
Water found in Apollo samples (March 10, 2010)
Dr. Jack Schmitt salutes LROC's Mark Robinson and the LRO
camera team at Arizona State (November 10, 2009)
Apollo 17 from 50 kilometers (October 28, 2009)

Iconic picture (AS17-134-20384) of Apollo 17 lunar module pilot and geologist Harrison Schmitt, by Gene Cernan, soon after the beginning of their first EVA, December 11, 1972. Click on image for high resolution view [NASA/ASJ].

"O Say Can You See," The sixth U.S. flag is "still there," confirmed by a distinctive shadow, north of the Apollo 17 landing site, in one of many exceptional LROC high-resolution Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) studies of the Apollo landing sites, and at Taurus Littrow, where the last Apollo crew began their surface expedition 40 years ago, December 11. LROC NAC M165000580R, LRO orbit 9892, August 14, 2011; resolution 42 cm per pixel from 24.74 kilometers LROC Featured Sites [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Cernan in Tulsa, "We need dreamers."

Capt. Gene Cernan, "Dreamers are doers."

Rick Couri

KRMG.com

Gene Cernan is the last man to put a foot on the moon. That happened in December 1972 nearly 40 years ago when the Apollo 17 mission came to and end. Cernan told us he still has a hard time believing it was that long ago and that we haven't been back. Cernan is in Tulsa today signing autographs at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum where I had a chance to catch up and ask him a few things about the space program. Cernan said he will always be proud of what the space program accomplished “technology, digital products, national pride, diplomatic presence” Cernan listed as some of the things he think were the most valuable.

As you can imagine, Cernan thinks the USA should be back in the space race and he hopes the kids of today lead the charge. “We need dreamers, dreamers are doers” he said as he watched the children visiting TASM Tuesday. “As a kid I wondered to myself if I could do that” Cernan remembered. “Then my Dad told me to go for my dreams, it’s amazing how often our fathers are right” he said with a smile.

I asked Cernan to think back to that moment when he was about to take the last step on the moon, what was going through his mind? “I looked back at the earth hanging there in the black, three dimensional with all the blues and the whites of the clouds and the snow.” I could see the memories in Cernan’s eyes when he said “I didn’t want that moment to end, I wanted to freeze time” he recalled.

Cernan was in Tulsa signing copies of his new book, “Last Man on the Moon.”

Link to Corsi's radio interview with Cernan, HERE.

39 Years (and counting)

December 14, 1972. Geologist Dr. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, the only professional scientist to visit another planet, swaps poses with Apollo 17 commander Capt. Gene Cernan following completion of their third and final EVA, exploring Taurus Littrow. It was the last Apollo moonwalk and the end of a breathtakingly successful sixth manned expedition to the lunar surface. When humans may resume this sorely needed activity is no more certain now than it was when, with little ceremony, Cernan climbed back into Challenger to prepare for lift-off. They were ahead of their time, they made it look easy, and the success of such a program at such a time arose from determined political will that was a product of events both wonderful and tragic. But regardless how history coldly credits events, unique and common, for Apollo, today we are without excuse. There is no retreat from tomorrow, and it's long past time to resume this inevitable enterprise, if only for the simple reason that our understanding of our Earth will never be complete without a proper exploration of Earth's Moon, our "deep water access" to the truly endless sea beyond [NASA/ASJ/].

Just another crater?

Not ordinary - amazing! A fresh look at Shorty Crater in Taurus Littrow Valley. What makes this 110 meter diameter crater stand out from the rest? A 225 meter-wide section from LROC Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) observation M175077349L, swept-up during LRO's brief very low orbital maneuvers this fall. LRO orbit 10935, November 11, 2011, 25 centimeters per pixel scale, view the full size LRO image released December 13, 2011, HERE [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Mark Robinson
Principal Investigator
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera
Arizona State University

Shorty crater is an amazing place on the Moon! From orbital photos, Apollo-era scientists identified this small crater as a place worth visiting. Even though the existing images at the time had limited resolution, analysts could see that Shorty crater was surrounded by a dark (low reflectance) field of ejecta. Since the area seemed to be blanketed by pyroclastic (explosive volcanism) materials, the dark ejecta around Shorty crater led scientists to speculate that perhaps this crater was a volcanic vent, and not an impact scar (see the pre-mission USGS geologic map of Taurus-Littrow). It was yet another reason to send an Apollo lander to the valley of Taurus-Littrow.

Two views of the Taurus-Littrow Valley. On the left is a composite of three LROC Wide Angle Camera (WAC) color bands (Red 689 nm, Green 415 nm, Blue 321 nm), and on the right is a sunrise WAC mosaic. Each image covers the same area and is 40 km wide. View the larger LROC context image HERE [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

On 11 December 1972, Apollo 17 landed in the middle of this fascinating valley. The mission goals included sampling rocks and soil that might reveal the age of the distant Tycho crater forming impact, sampling ancient highland material that might reveal the ages of two mighty basins, return another variety of basalt, collect dark pyroclastic material, and see if Shorty crater was indeed a volcanic vent. Shorty crater is found (white arrow, left WAC mosaic) on a tongue of high reflectance material emanating from South Massif (labeled 'SM' on right right mosaic), about 7 km to the west of the Apollo 17 landing site (yellow arrow).

Shorty crater (110 meters diameter), small black arrow points to rock labeled in the Hasselblad camera shot captured by Captain Cernan, shown below. (Annotated, from M175077349L 225 meters wide, north is up. View the full size context image HERE [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Apollo 17 astronauts Harrison "Jack" Schmitt and Eugene "Gene" Cernan spent three days performing a reconnaissance exploration of part of Taurus-Littrow Valley. On the second day they drove the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) as far as 8.7 km WSW of the Lunar Module (LM), to the edge of Nansen crater, at the foot of South Massif. On the way back to the LM they headed north across Lee Lincoln scarp (a thrust fault), and on to Shorty crater. It was at the edge of Shorty crater where Schmitt first noticed orange soil underfoot! At the moment it seemed that the crew had indeed discovered oxidized rock, a sure sign of fumarolic volcanic vent.

One frame of the 360° panorama sequence obtained by Gene Cernan some 40 meters east of the orange glass sampling site. Harrison Schmitt is seen by the parked LRV. Box highlights orange soil on the steep wall of the crater, black arrow points out rock also arrowed on the NAC view above. Apollo 17 Hasselblad AS17-137-21009 [NASA].

Harrison Schmitt, a life-long geologist, is still very active in the planetary science community and wrote a few thoughts upon seeing the new NAC image of Shorty crater.

Jack Schmitt's trench, and the orange soil found at Shorty crater, Apollo 17 Lunar Surface Journal. AS17-137-20990 [NASA].

"The location of the one-wall trench I dug across the crater rim to get samples of the orange glass and the black partially crystallized glass beneath it. I dug the trench wall so it faced the sun to provide good photographic images. Using the sampling scoop I normally carried, I threw the trench debris so that it all went away from the boulder. Being orange rather than gray, the debris is slightly lighter than the surrounding surface debris (regolith), and is visible as a spray pattern in the image."

"Shorty Crater is about 14 m deep. Based on our investigations at the site and later examination of photographs, the impact that formed it penetrated, in order, regolith on the avalanche deposit, the avalanche deposit, regolith on a basalt flow, a basalt flow overlying and protecting the orange and black glass layers, the orange and black glass layers, regolith on a second basalt flow, and, finally, the upper portion of that second flow. Orange and black glass clods and basalt boulders are spread throughout the ejecta blanket surrounding Shorty."  -Harrison H. Schmitt, Lunar Module Pilot and Geologist, Apollo 17

You can see the orange soil that Schmitt sampled in the surface photo shown above, note also the streamer of orange glass extending down the the steep inner wall of the crater (indicated with black box). To help orient yourself in the surface image, imagine yourself  standing on the spot marked 'Color Pan' in the NAC image, that is the viewpoint from where Gene captured his 360° panorama series of photographs. If you look closely in the NAC image, you can trace Cernan's tracks from the area of the trench that Schmitt dug, and then back to the rover (two darker parallel lines).

As it turns out the orange soil was not oxidized vent material, but something equally exciting -- titanium-rich pyroclastic glass! When the Shorty impact event occurred, the pyroclastic glass was excavated from about 10 meters below the surface and thrown out onto the rim. Talk about a case of lucky timing! The orange glass was deposited several billion years ago, then shortly after it was deposited, a thin layer of basalt flooded this portion of the valley and formed a protective cap. Then, not too long ago, the orange glass was brought to the surface and the Apollo 17 crew arrived. Eventually the Shorty crater deposits will get churned back into the surrounding landscape by small impacts: Schmitt and Cernan came by at just the right time.

What did we learn from the orange and black soil? These key samples showed that the idea that the valley had witnessed very large fire fountaining eruptions was correct. Imagine lava being erupted so fast that it shot up many hundreds of meters, and splashed over the terrain for many tens of kilometers. Why so high? Because there were large amounts of gases in the magma that rapidly exsolved as it neared the surface. A process similar to what you experience upon shaking a soda can and opening it up -- spray! Scientists were able to find minute remnants of volatiles on the glass beads (both orange and black), including zinc and sulfur. From the extent of the deposit and its composition, it was clear that these materials came from deep sources within the mantle. So by simply walking to the edge of this small, seemingly insignificant, crater the crew were able to sample and bring back incredibly valuable samples of the deep Moon.

That is not the end of the story, the next day Cernan and Schmitt drove north and then east to sample the North massif (NM) and the Sculptured hills (SH). Both destinations were older than the mare, they represented two different ancient crustal samples. From these rocks scientists were able to determine absolute age dates for the formation of an ancient basin. All-in-all Apollo 17 was a smashing success for both science and engineering.

Read more about the geology of Taurus-Littrow valley in the definitive USGS report, and examine Shorty crater and its environs in detail.

Thirty-nine years have passed since humans last walked on the Moon. When will we return?

Cernan says China will be first back to the Moon

Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan

Peter Rakobowchuk
The Canadian Press

Ottawa - Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon almost 40 years ago, is worried China will beat other nations back to the shiny orb.

"There's no question in my mind at all that they are going to develop the capability to go to the moon and probably establish colonies there to take advantage of some of the resources that are on the moon," he said on Wednesday.

China moved one step closer to setting up its own space station with the successful docking of two unmanned spacecraft above the Earth which was announced Thursday morning.

Cernan spent more than 70 hours on the lunar surface in December 1972 along with fellow U.S. astronaut Harrison Schmitt during the Apollo 17 mission.

He said China is "eight or ten years away" from landing on the moon and when they get there they are going to literally almost own it because no other countries have any plans to go there.

"The Chinese have a long-term plan that's going to leave the rest of us behind quite frankly and I'm worried about it," he said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

Cernan said if China assumes a position of leadership in space, "it's going to have significant negative effects on western civilization, particularly the United States — for many years to come."

The 77-year-old former astronaut made the comments at the First Aerospace Summit where he was also the keynote speaker.

Read the full story HERE.

Arkansas Apollo 17 commemorative lunar sample found packed away among Bill Clinton's files

Diane Alter
AHN

A long lost, highly valuable moon rock, bought back by Apollo 17 has been found in former U.S. president Bill Clinton's files.

The rock, missing for 30 years, was one of 50 presented to each state after the 1972 space mission. It was presented to Clinton's predecessor Gov. David Pryor in 1976. The rock hung in the governor's office that was later occupied by Clinton. The rock was apparently packed away with Clinton's memorabilia after it fell off its plaque.

The moon rock is estimated to be worth $10 million. NASA says that few of the rocks, which were encased in acrylic and mounted on a plaque with the intended recipient's flag, can be located.

The rock has been missing since 1980. Reports are that the rock fell off the plaque and was mistakenly packed away with gubernatorial papers belonging to Clinton. The archivist knew exactly what is was when he stumbled upon it.

Three months after Apollo 17 returned home, then-president Richard Nixon ordered that fragments of the rocks carried home by astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt be distributed among 135 foreign heads of state, the 50 U.S. states and its territories. When presented to the states as gifts, they became property of the state they were donated to. Only 60 can be located. The rest are said to have been stolen or lost.

The rock is currently safely stored in a library safe.

A mission to find the missing lunar module

Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan in the Apollo 10 lunar module "Snoopy" prepare to dock with John Young, who snapped this picture on May 23, 1969. Away only eight hours Stafford and Cernan put the LM into a transfer orbit and descended to 14.4 km above the lunar surface before dropping the landing stage and firing the critical ascent stage six subsequent missions would depend upon to return them to ferry them back the Command Module and eventually to Earth. It was only the second time humans had visited the Moon's vicinity less than two months before Apollo 11. When later Jettisoned, the LM ascent stage engine was ignited remotely, on a trajectory placing the vehicle in orbit around the Sun, where it is presumed to remain to the present day. "Snoopy" is the only intact LM ascent stage remaining of the ten full Apollo lunar landers eventually launched into space [NASA/JSC].

Adrian West
Universe Today

Where is the Apollo 10 Lunar capsule? It’s somewhere out there — orbiting the Sun — and there’s a new initiative to try and find it!

The Apollo 10 mission launched on May 18, 1968 and was a manned “dry run” for its successor Apollo 11, testing all of the procedures and components of a Moon landing without actually landing on the Moon itself.

After carrying out a successful lunar orbit and docking procedure, the Lunar Module (called “Snoopy”) was jettisoned and sent into an orbit around the Sun.

After 42 years, it’s believed to still be in a heliocentric orbit and a team of UK and international astronomers working with schools are going to try and find it.

Read the full story HERE.

Cernan saw peace on Earth

Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan, back in the Lunar Module Challenger, is photographed by LM pilot Harrison Schmitt completing a total 22 hours, 6 minutes, 45 seconds on the lunar surface at the end of EVA-3, December 14, 1972 [NASA/ALSJ].

Michael Shinabery
New Mexico Museum of Space History
Alamogordo Daily News

During early spaceflights, little things alleviated big frustrations.

"We had to take some chewing gum, Dentyne chewing gum, on Gemini IX, just to keep our mouth refreshed," Gene Cernan said in a 2007 NASA oral history. "We couldn't take toothpaste and toothbrushes, because what are you going to do with the toothpaste? Well, we're going to swallow it. Oh, you can't swallow it."

Cernan, born on March 14, 1934, made three spaceflights, his final one as Apollo 17 commander. Before climbing into the lunar module Challenger, he left man's last footprints on the Moon.

"We leave as we came and, God willing, we shall return with peace and hope for all mankind," The Associated Press reported Cernan said.

"I never even thought about (my words) until I was crawling up, basically crawling up the ladder," Cernan said in the Dec. 11, 2007 oral history, on the 35th anniversary of his lunar landing.

Cernan was at Purdue University when he "received his commission through the Navy ROTC Program," the website jsc.nasa.gov said. In October 1963 NASA chose him among 14 astronauts. In 1966 he piloted Gemini IX, becoming "the second American to walk in space"; he was outside the capsule for two hours and 10 minutes. Subsequently, he was "backup pilot for Gemini 12 and ... backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 7," and later " backup spacecraft commander for Apollo 14."

Cernan's second flight was in May 1969, as Apollo 10 LM pilot. He descended "to within (eight) nautical miles of the lunar surface," jsc.nasa.gov said, "demonstrating that man could navigate safely and accurately in the moon's gravitational fields."

Taurus-Littrow Valley, skirting the eastern shore of Mare Serenitatis, the landing site of Apollo 17 as seen from the general but simulated perspective along a line-of-sight view from Earth. The pitch-over before landing took place over the mountainous terrain on the Valley's eastern side. LROC Wide Angle Camera monochrome mosaic centered at 0 degrees longitude (the lunar nearside) [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Apollo 17 launched on December 7, 1972, "the first manned nighttime launch," said jsc.nasa.gov. Four days later, Cernan and Harrison Schmitt touched down at Taurus-Littrow.

He "waited a long time for December 11, 1972 to come around," Cernan said. "I'm flying. A lot of people think we pressed a button and let the thing fly itself. There's no way I'm going to go all the way to the Moon and let a computer land me on the Moon. The arrogance of a pilot, particularly naval aviators, is too great to allow that to happen. Nobody ever landed on the Moon other than with their own two hands and brain and eyeballs."

Read the article HERE.

Cernan joins Stafford at home in OK to celebrate Gemini, Apollo & Apollo-Soyuz

Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford, (USAF, Ret.) (left) joins Captain Eugene A, Cernan (USN, Ret.) participate in a panel discussion at B.C. Clarks Jewelry store at Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City, Thursday. Stafford and Cernan flew together on two missions, Gemini 9 and to within 9 kilometers of the lunar surface on Apollo 10. Cernan was the last person to walk on the Moon, in command of Apollo 17 and Stafford flew in command of the first U.S. Soviet rendezvous in space, Apollo-Soyuz, in 1975. The veteran astronauts talked about their missions and answered some questions from the public [The Oklahoman/Paul Hellstern].

David Izzo
NewsOK/The Oklahoman

Just before Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan lifted off for their Gemini 9 space mission in 1966, the flight crew director called Stafford aside. "We can't afford to have a dead astronaut floating around in a space suit,” he told Stafford.

"I wasn't in on that conversation,” Cernan said.

Stafford recalled that director Deke Slayton told him that if Cernan died while on a risky spacewalk that was part of Gemini 9, Stafford should haul the body back into the capsule.

Stafford, the mission commander, listed the many perils of that strategy.

Read more HERE.

Apollo Astronauts: Future of Human Space Flight

United States Senate
Committee Commerce, Science and Transportation
Dr. Neil Armstrong, Captain Eugene Cernan & Hon. Norm Augustine
May 12, 2010

CSPAN.ORG Video Library - Witnesses talked about the future of human space flight in relation to President Obama's recent announcement of a new direction for NASA. Former Apollo astronauts criticized the plan as a "blueprint for a mission to nowhere" because it lacked a specific vision and proper review of the long-term NASA mission.

Cernan & Lovell: Retreat from Moon 'disasterous'

Gene Cernan (Apollo 10 & Apollo 17) and Jim Lovell (Apollo 8 & Apollo 13); the veteran Gemini and Apollo astronauts decried the proposed cancellation of the Constellation program in widely circulated news reports, last week.

Gene Cernan and Jim Lovell created more buzz about the Moon this past week than the latest rumor about the next release in the 'Twilight' saga. Their dire warnings to the Royal Society in London concerning the president's proposed cancellation of NASA's Constellation program continues to be picked up by every news organ on the planet. It's a testimony to the respect, even reverence, still held for the only men to travel to the vicinity of the Moon twice during the Apollo era (1968-1972).

As lunar module pilot on Apollo 10, a dress rehearsal two months before Apollo 11, Cernan traveled to within 15 kilometers of the Sea of Tranquility and four years officially spent more time on the lunar surface than any single individual, becoming the last man to walk on the Moon in command of Apollo 17 in 1972.

Similarly situated in the second seat of Apollo 8, traveling with Frank Borman and Bill Anders, dazzled the world in December 1968 when they became the first humans to travel beyond Earth orbit, circling the Moon ten times before returning to Earth in December 1968.

Lovell's dream of walking on the Moon, in command of Apollo 13, was dashed forty years ago next month when a service module tank explosion collapsed the command module's life support system. Fortunately, an ingenious and unplanned use of the resources of the Apollo 13 lunar module's engine and life support system returned the crew back to Earth.

Yet another generation was afforded the hair-raising experience of the near-disaster of the aborted Apollo 13 Moon landing and its single swing behind the Moon when the motion picture "Apollo 13" (starring Tom Hanks as Lovell) premiered in June 1995.

Though it was already a more obscure but oft-repeated phrase, Lovell's initial report of the on-board explosion has never been a more popular part of our heritage of language.

"Houston, we have a problem"is now firmly situated as the absolute model for a no-frills, understated report of disaster. Perhaps this is the reason why when Lovell called something 'catastrophic,' last week in London it drew attention, and even a second glance; something rare in a world even more filled with noise than during the tumultuous Apollo era.

Mark Whittington of Associated Content followed-up on the original BBC interview, attendant to Lovell and Cernan (together with Dr. Armstrong) and their private meeting with the Royal Society.

"Personally, I think it will have catastrophic consequences in our ability to explore space and the spin-offs we get from space technology," Lovell said. "They haven't thought through the consequences."

Eugene Cernan, part of the 1972 Apollo 17 mission, said the U.S. has a responsibility to lead the world in space exploration and technology and that he hopes people will be back on the moon "sooner than later."

"I'm quite disappointed that I'm still the last man on the moon. I thought we'd have gone back long before now," Cernan said. "But I am absolutely committed to the fact that we will go back at some time.""I think America has a responsibility to maintain its leadership in technology and its moral leadership... to seek knowledge. Curiosity's the essence of human existence."

President Obama's decision to cancel the Constellation return to the Moon program has run into a firestorm of criticism which seems to have caught the Administration by surprise. President Obama has scheduled a "Space Summit" in Florida next month to try to explain his reasons for canceling Constellation.

The problem is that not only have the Apollo missions to the Moon become part of the American story, a source of pride and proof of American exceptionalism, the fact that Americans have not been back to the Moon in almost forty years has become a silent source of shame.

Though any cancellation of the Constellation program is often reported as a done-deal, NASA and American space policy are officially unchanged, and work continues, even on the Ares 1. NASA is a "creature of Congress," and President Obama's "decision' to permanently postpone travel to the lunar surface awaits a change approved or rejected by Congress.

Though Constellation was originally a pay-as-you-go proposition, as a part of the Vision for Space Exploration set out by President George W. Bush in 2004, the proposed elimination of Constellation immediately polarized an Internet-active "space community," along with interests in regions and industrial sectors.

Carpenter, Cernan & Duke urge support for Constellation

Dear Friends:

There has never been, and likely never will be, another government program that expedites technological innovation so much as the U.S. space program. There is not another program that has so successfully rallied a nation, inspired youngsters toward academic achievement or established the U.S. as the world leader in technology.

The manned space program has, in particular, been a source of our nation’s strength and character. But an Achilles heel in the form of our country’s executive branch threatens a mortal wound. Under the Obama 2011 budget, the U.S. will no longer ferry humans into space— no moon, no Mars. The source of much of America’s inspiration and spirit, the impetus for so much discovery, technology and imagination, is in jeopardy. The demise of America’s space program is just another step in the dismantling of our nation.

Where's the vision put so eloquently in 1962 when President Kennedy said," serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills." President Kennedy delivered a vision to the American public that demanded courage, imagination and follow-through. The long-term focus has always been to progressively conquer new frontiers. Certainly, that focus has been shared by both government and private enterprise but to withdraw government from manned space flight will surely obliterate those far-reaching frontiers and precipitously lower our nation’s preeminence in technology.

We are the only country to ever conquer the high ground, the moon. And now we are to give that up to the Russians and Chinese who are committed to having a permanent presence there? The national security implications are starkly real. From the high ground, foreign governments will have greater access to monitor U.S. technology assets in Earth orbit. Whoever controls the high ground becomes the world’s leader in technology.

We ask you to join those members of Congress who have the fortitude and courage to embrace the vision that has become part of our nation’s signature and who are advocates of returning to the moon and maintaining America’s leadership role in the exploration of space.

Charles Duke - Scott Carpenter - Eugene Cernan
www.supportconstellation.com

Apollo 10 plus 40 years

On May 18, 1969, Apollo 10 was launched on a mission to orbit the moon. The flight was a test run, a crucial dress rehearsal leading up to the historic Apollo 11 mission that two months later carried the first people to walk on the moon.

"The three-man mission was a "dress rehearsal" for the lunar landing just a few months later. It tested the full Apollo spacecraft - both the mother ship (CSM) and lander (LM) - in lunar orbit, going down to within about 15 kilometres of the lunar surface at one point.

"So why stop there? The answer you'll find in simple accounts is that Apollo 10's lander was too heavy to land and take off again. The reality was more complex."

More Background from Henry Spencer, HERE.

Oklahoma honors Stafford and Apollo 10

40th Anniversary of the wild "gyrations"

Ron Jackson - The Daily Oklahoman

Weatherford, OK — Disaster fell upon Apollo X astronauts Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene A. Cernan 40 years ago this month when their lunar module began spinning wildly during a low pass over the moon’s surface. No humans had ever been so close to another celestial body, and yet in that defining moment, the mission — and their lives — appeared in jeopardy.

The world listened anxiously to the spacecraft’s radio transmission to NASA’s Command Center in Houston. As the lunar module pitched and rolled in "wild gyrations,” Cernan bellowed his now-famous, "Son of a b----!”

Stafford mumbled something inaudible in his Oklahoma drawl and took action.

"When you see the surface of the moon flash before your eyes eight times in 15 seconds, it’s a bit unnerving,” recalled the retired Capt. Cernan, now 75 and living in Houston. "Luckily, Tom was able to shut it down completely and take over full control of the lunar module manually and get us back under control.”

Read the complete article HERE.