Protecting the Apollo Landing Sites From Later Landings 339
R3d M3rcury writes "The Lunar X-Prize is a contest offering $20 million to the first private organization to land and maneuver a robotic rover on the moon. There is also a $1 million bonus to anyone who can get a picture of a man-made object on the moon. But one archeologist believes that 'The sites of early lunar landings are of unparalleled significance in the history of humanity, and extraordinary caution should be taken to protect them.' He's concerned that we may end up with rover tracks destroying historic artifacts, such as Neil Armstrong's first bootprint, or that a mistake could send a rocket slamming into a landing site. He calls on the organizers to ban any contestant from landing within 100KM of a prior moon landing site. Now he seems to think this just means Apollo. What about the Luna and Surveyor landers? What about the Lunokhod rovers? Are they fair game?"
Re:Why Worry? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Why Worry? (Score:5, Informative)
Erosion Requires an atmosphere doesn't it?
No. They can be eroded by micrometeorites and thermal changes. But that would take millions of years.
Re:That's retarded (Score:5, Informative)
Since the first footprint was at the end of the lunar-lander ladder, the same ladder that was used to get out and get in the Eagle again by Aldrin and Armstrong, my guess is that the very first footprint was already pretty messed up, even before they left the place...
And don't forget the blast from the rocket engine at take of.. that one was sure to wipe it of the face of the moon...
Re:Uhhh.... (Score:5, Informative)
Apollo 17 lunar module ascent. [youtube.com]
Re:That's retarded (Score:5, Informative)
"People who spray paint..." (Score:5, Informative)
So that's what happened to the Anasazi [jqjacobs.net]. Now, somebody just needs to go clean up the mess they left.
Re:I counter your counter argument. (Score:4, Informative)
True, but you also have weaker gravity, which will allow pressure from a rocket motor to have a greater effect than on earth
Pressure? I thought we were talking about a vacuum.
Also, debris will fly farther.
What debris?
The only debris is actually the crap coming out of the back of the rocket in gaseous form. I know you could try and make argument that this constituted pressure but since these are occasional particles wandering about in a complete vacuum you might as well model them as such since there are few enough to deal with.
As to whether they would disturb enough dust when the hit the moon surface to erase someones footprint that is any bodies guess as:
1) The module would have to get to certain height before the exhaust gasses could have a clear path to the ground due to the base section of the lander left in situ.
2) I have no idea as to how deep and well formed Neil's footprints were. The dust up there had not been touched so may have allowed his boot to sink quite deeply into the surface.
3) I have no idea of the relative mass of the exhaust gasses to the particulate dust that makes up the moons surface.
Basically, the only way to know for sure is go back and see. Unfortunately this may well result in discovering that the human races first footprint on the moon was perfectly preserved until we trashed it finding out if it was there. Why risk this outcome when the moon is plenty big enough for us to land somewhere else until we have the ability to build a museum around the area without disturbing it.
Disclaimer - Sorry, for being so nitpicky, but several years of Physics with Space Technology will do that to you.
Re:I counter your counter argument. (Score:4, Informative)
Pressure? I thought we were talking about a vacuum.
We're also talking about a rocket motor. The mass ejected from the motor nozzle exerts pressure on whatever it hits.
What debris? The only debris is actually the crap coming out of the back of the rocket in gaseous form. I know you could try and make argument that this constituted pressure but since these are occasional particles wandering about in a complete vacuum you might as well model them as such since there are few enough to deal with.
Observe the dust cloud [youtube.com]
this may well result in discovering that the human races first footprint on the moon was perfectly preserved
The first footprint was at the bottom of the ladder. How many times did Armstrong and Aldrin go up and down that ladder? Face it, the first footprint is gone.