The Search For Apollo 10's "Snoopy"

astroengine writes "A UK-led team of astronomers are going to use their comet and asteroid-hunting skills to track down a piece of Apollo history. In 1969, Apollo 10 did everything the first moon landing (Apollo 11) did, except land on the lunar surface. During the Apollo 10 mission, the lunar module, nicknamed 'Snoopy,' was jettisoned and sent into a solar orbit — it is still believed to be out there, 42 years later. 'We're expecting a search arc up to 135 million kilometers in size which is a huge amount of space to look at,' British amateur astronomer Nick Howes told Discovery News. 'We're aware of the scale and magnitude of this challenge but to have the twin Faulkes scopes assist the hunt, along with schools, plus the fact that we'll doubtless turn up many new finds such as comets and asteroids makes this a great science project too.'"

Money NOT well spent.

[Dr.Bob,DC]

I guess the larger question is "Why?" Why are they even looking for this in the first place?

Imagine if all the money spent on sending handfuls of people into space was spent on health care education here on Earth? I love the idea of astronomers at their telescopes but the costs involved with manned spaceflight is astronomical. Didn't it cost something like $10,000/pound to send stuff up in into orbit in the shuttles? How much are the Mars landers costing?

We need a SOLID health research plan back here on Earth. Far less money for the Big Pharma-controlled 'sickness industry' of today and more for alternative medicine research. Alternative medicine has been shown time and again to be just as, or more, effective than Big Pharma drugs or a surgeon's butcher knives. This is actually a timely discussion as the Big Pharma made up "flu season" is coming fast.

For example, did you know the flu shots are ineffective and even dangerous? If you start to show the signs of a flu there are simple things you can do. A homeopathic remedy of Oscillococcinum along with Chiropractic adjustments form a two-pronged attack on the flu virus. The Oscillococcinum attacks the young viruses while the adjustments to the spine help the body's innate healing capabilities destroy the mature virus. It's a 100% painless and safe way to heal yourself from within with the human body's most powerful weapon: innate intelligence.

Don't just take my word for it, educate yourself with the University of Google! Here's more evidence of efficacy:
"Flu season wellness plan should include chiropractic care" [worldchiro...liance.org]
How Chiropractic Can Help The Flu [wordpress.com]
Swine Flu Chiropractors Handout [planetc1.com]

Take care,
Bob

Re:Money NOT well spent.

[spire3661]

Exactly. The BANK bailout cost the US taxpayer more then the ENTIRE 50 YEAR OPERATING FUND OF NASA.

It's not the only thing

[mbone]

There are also the Apollo 8, 10, 11 and 12 S-IVBs [wikipedia.org] (3rd stage). (Starting with Apollo 13, the S-IVBs were impacted on the Moon to produce "Moonquakes" for the ALSEP seismometers). For all of those except for Apollo 8, there were also 4 large SLAs (panels) around the LM, which were ejected when the LM was retrieved just after TLI. (The Apollo-8 panels stayed on the S-IVB, as it had no LM.) In a real trivia, the Apollo 13-17 SLAs also should be out there, as the S-IVB was directed to hit the Moon after the LM was retrieved, and thus after they were ejected.

There was a claim that the S-IVB for Apollo 12 might have been found [nasa.gov]. I don't know if that was ever confirmed, though.

Re:This is going to be really tough

[EdZ]

Hopefully, the lander being covered in highly reflective foil should raise it's albedo significantly compared to, say, a comet or asteroid, albeit possibly causing direct reflections to be intermittent.