Terrain Experienced by the Apollo Crews
Copyright © 2009 by the Editors of Working on the
Moon.
Unless otherwise credited anaglyphs and stereopans
Copyright © 2009 by Eric Jones and Yuri
Krasilnikov.
Last revised 20 December 2009.
1. Introduction
The first two landings occurred on mare
sites: Apollo 11 in the southwest portion of Mare Tranquilitatis; and
Apollo 12 in Mare Insularum (formerly part of Mare Procellarum).
Both sites were selected because they have relatively low numbers
of larger craters and troublesome rocks per unit area, thus
giving the
crews an excellent chance of finding good landing spots despite
uncertainties about where they might end up within the landing
ellipse. Except for the inevitable carpeting of the surface by
craters a meter across or smaller, the surface between craters bigger
than a few meters across is relatively smooth. Rises and falls of
more than one of two meters over distances of a few tens of meters are
rare in the small areas traversed by these crews.
Demonstration of a precision landing on Apollo 12 allowed relaxation of site selection criteria and, thereby, visits to site of greater geologic interest and more varied terrain.
Two crews landed on more heavily cratered, highlands sites. The Apollo 14 crew visited hilly terrain that may represent ejecta from the Imbrium impact. As is characteristic of non-mare sites, the surface at Fra Mauro is much rougher than on the mare. Overlapping of eroded craters of sizes of tens of meters or more have produced an undulating surface which rises and falls by up to 10-20 meters over distances of several tens of meters. During their second EVA, the crew made a 1.4 km traverse up to the top of Cone Crater Ridge, which is about 85 meters above the LM location. The Apollo 16 crew landed on a site in the Central Highlands made up of ejecta from the Nectaris impact overlain in areas between hills with a blanket of ejecta from Mare Imbrium. The hills are known as the Descartes formation while the smoother area of Imbrium ejecta is known as the Cayley plains. The terrain at the Apollo 16 site is generally smoother than at the Apollo 14 site, although there are substantial elevations differences over distance of 100-200 meters in some places.
The remaining two crews visited sites where mare lava abutts substantial mountains uplifted during major impacts: Apollo 15 landed on a portion of mare Imbrium bounded on the west by Hadley Rille, a lava flow channel 1500 meters wide and 300 meters deep, and on the south and east by the lunar Apennine Mountains, with summits reaching 3600-4200 meters above the valley floor. Apollo 17 landed in a narrow valley on the fringe of Mare Serentitatis and bounded by peaks of 2000-2400 meters. Both crews made geologic stops at various places on the mare, on the lower slopes of the mountains, at the edge of the rille, and at the base of an 80-m fault scarp that crosses the entrance to the Valley of Taurus-Littrow.
Each of the following sections begins with a brief decription of a site or, in the case of the last three missions, a particular aspect of a site. These descriptions are followed by crew comments and lists of panoramas, traverse sequence, photographs, and red-blue anaglyphs that illustrate aspects of the terrain.
Demonstration of a precision landing on Apollo 12 allowed relaxation of site selection criteria and, thereby, visits to site of greater geologic interest and more varied terrain.
Two crews landed on more heavily cratered, highlands sites. The Apollo 14 crew visited hilly terrain that may represent ejecta from the Imbrium impact. As is characteristic of non-mare sites, the surface at Fra Mauro is much rougher than on the mare. Overlapping of eroded craters of sizes of tens of meters or more have produced an undulating surface which rises and falls by up to 10-20 meters over distances of several tens of meters. During their second EVA, the crew made a 1.4 km traverse up to the top of Cone Crater Ridge, which is about 85 meters above the LM location. The Apollo 16 crew landed on a site in the Central Highlands made up of ejecta from the Nectaris impact overlain in areas between hills with a blanket of ejecta from Mare Imbrium. The hills are known as the Descartes formation while the smoother area of Imbrium ejecta is known as the Cayley plains. The terrain at the Apollo 16 site is generally smoother than at the Apollo 14 site, although there are substantial elevations differences over distance of 100-200 meters in some places.
The remaining two crews visited sites where mare lava abutts substantial mountains uplifted during major impacts: Apollo 15 landed on a portion of mare Imbrium bounded on the west by Hadley Rille, a lava flow channel 1500 meters wide and 300 meters deep, and on the south and east by the lunar Apennine Mountains, with summits reaching 3600-4200 meters above the valley floor. Apollo 17 landed in a narrow valley on the fringe of Mare Serentitatis and bounded by peaks of 2000-2400 meters. Both crews made geologic stops at various places on the mare, on the lower slopes of the mountains, at the edge of the rille, and at the base of an 80-m fault scarp that crosses the entrance to the Valley of Taurus-Littrow.
Each of the following sections begins with a brief decription of a site or, in the case of the last three missions, a particular aspect of a site. These descriptions are followed by crew comments and lists of panoramas, traverse sequence, photographs, and red-blue anaglyphs that illustrate aspects of the terrain.
2. Apollo 11, Mare Tranquilitatis
Detail from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image M104362199R, taken 8 August 2009 at
09:15:31 UTC. Resolution is 1.17 m/pixel and the solar elevation and azimuth were
36.1 and 269.0 degrees, respectively. On level ground, the shadow cast by the
3.23-m-tall descent stage was only 4.4 meters long.
Armstrong and Aldrin stayed close to the
LM. Late in the EVA, Armstrong ran out to the southwest rim of
East Crater, about 60 meters from the spacecraft. Except for that
brief excursion, the astronauts stayed within an area about the size of
a baseball
diamond. Armstrong and Aldrin took three complete
pans and two partials during the EVA. Although they didn't get many
instances of overlap, there are a few
cases of
overlapping images that give us some stereo of the site. In the
following table, the white lines drawn on details from the LROC image
indicate the azimuths correponding to the centers of the various
images. These are based on Figure
3-15
in
the Apollo 11
Preliminary Science Report. The black lines represent
approximate azimuths of the anaglyph centers. The crew also took
sequences of photos out both windows before and after the EVA.
3. Apollo 12, Mare Insularum (formerly part of Procellarum)
(The following has been derived from the Apollo 17 Mission Report, Lunar Sourcebook and USGS Apollo 17 Professional Paper.)
The Valley of Taurus-Littrow is on the southeast margin of the Serenitatis Basin, with its long axis pointing toward the center of the basin. It is flanked on the north and south by mountains that rise two km or more above the valley floor. The valley and mountains form a classic graben/horst geologic structure, which resulted from outward displacement of material at the edge of the basin during the impact, 3.87 billion years ago. Relatively soon after the impact event, lava began to fill the Serentitatis Basin. Geophysical measurements made during the mission suggest that the lava fill at Taurus-Littrow is about 1000 - 1200 m thick. The ages of the basalt samples returned by the crew indicate that the filling ended about 3.6 to 3.7 billion years ago. The thickness of the regolith layer accumulated since that time is not well determined at Taurus-Littrow. Typical thicknesses on the lunar mare are about 5 meters. Regolith sampled in the center of the valley is composed almost entirely of basalt fragments, indicating that material thrown off the mountains is not an important contributor. Serentitatis is a relatively old mare, suggesting that typical regolith thickness at Taurus-Littrow is greater than 5 meters. Evidence at Shorty Crater indicates a regolith thickness of 10 to 15 meters while, at Van Serg Crater, the regolith thickness is more than 15 meters. Like all mare surfaces, the valley floor has relatively few large craters but increasing numbers at smaller sizes. Overall, the valley is relatively flat, sloping down about 1 degree toward its eastern end. On smaller, local scales, the cumulative effect of randomly-distributed impacts is an surface between the larger craters that rises and falls a few meters over distances of several tens of meters.
Trafficability on the valley floor is good. During the three traverses, Cernan and Schmitt drove a map distance of 32.3 kilometers in 253.5 minutes, giving an average speed of 7.6 km/hr. At that speed Cernan had to keep his eye on the road to spot hazards but, generally, was able to see hazards in plenty of time to steer around them. The total odometer distance travelled during the three traverses was 36.0 kilometers, only 11.5 percent greater than the map distance. The most important hazards were fresh craters from about the same size as the Rover (3 meters long) up to a size where crater rims and ejecta are easily visible in the rolling terrain. Around the LM, the average spacing of fresh craters bigger than 3 meters is roughly 40 meters.
The mountains that bound the valley are composed of pre-Serentitatis material uplifted during the event. These were then draped with Serentitatis ejecta, much of it impact-melt breccias. During the second and third EVAs, the crew visited locations on the lower slopes of the North and South Masiffs where they could examine and sample boulders that had tumbled down into reach from outcrops of Serenitiats ejecta high on the mountains. The slopes above these locations are about 26 degrees.
Because of the slopes, impacts on the mountain flanks produces net downward motion of ejecta. Rock outcrops on the upper third of the South Massif and the upper two thirds of the Noth Massif indicate that the regolith on those parts of the mountains is thin. On the lower parts mountains, depth of the regolith increases toward the bottom and then decreases with distance out on the valley floor. At about the 4800 m contour at the base on the North Massif in the 1974 Lunar Topophotomap of the landing site, the slope changes for about 26 degrees to something like 16 degrees on the accumulated talus. Simplistic geometry suggests talus accumulations at the base of the mountain of up to 40 meters.
One notable feature of the mountain flanks are tracks made by boulders as they bounced, tumbled, rolled, and slide down from various outcrops after being disloadged by impacts or seismic activity. Figure 8-15 from the Apollo 17 Prelimiinary Science Report shows identified boulder tracks on the North Massif.
7.1 Valley Floor, LM/ALSEP/SEP
7.3 EVA-3 Traverse to North Massif,
Turning Point Rock, Station 6, and Station 7
Gene and Jack took multiple photographs at three locations on the North
Massif: Turning Point Rock, where they maneuvered the Rover to
get
good photographic coverage but didn't dismount; and Stations 6 and
7. These three sites are marked in a CSM Pan Camera detail, along with
three boulders that serve are markers in some of the photographs.
| Mission
Elapsed
Time |
Location |
Assembly
Link |
Frames |
Anaglyphs |
Additional
Material |
Notes |
| 104:02:26 |
LM Cabin |
CDR
Window Pan |
AS11-37- 5449-53 plus59 (color) |
Taken by Armstrong out his
window about 1.5 hours after the landing. A crater doublet is
visible below his window, with the younger of the two craters on the
right. |
||
| 104:02:26 | LM Cabin |
LMP
Window Pan |
AS11-37- 5454-58 (color) |
Taken by Aldrin out his window |
||
| 109:32:26 |
Foot of the Ladder |
Ladder Pan assembly by Dave Byrne |
AS11-40- 5850-58 (color) |
Anaglyphs with context (5Mb) |
LRO
map Remapped images: 5850, 5851, 5852, 5853, 5854, 5855, 5856, 5857, 5858 Indiv. anaglyphs: 5850-51 5852-53 5853-54 5855-56 5856-57 5857-58 Side-by-side l-r (parallel) stereo pairs: 5850-51 5852-53 5853-54 5855-56 5856-57 5857-58 |
Taken by Armstrong from near the
foot of the ladder. See Fig. 3-15 from
the Apollo 11
Preliminary Science Report The fresh crater on the right edge of the 5855-56 anaglyph is at the center of 5856; and can also be seen beyond the TV in AS11-37-5512, a photo Aldrin took out his window after the EVA. In 5512, note that the larger boulders visible in the anaglyph seem to be associated an older, larger crater beyond the small, fresh crater. In the 5855-56 anaglyph, the larger crater is hidden by its own rim. The fresh crater is marked on the map made from the 8 August 2009 LROC image of the site. It is about 50 meters from the foot of the ladder. |
| 109:32:26 | Near the ladder |
Ladder Mini-Pan (4Mb) | AS11-40- 5859-61 (color) |
Anaglyphs with context (2Mb) |
Indiv. anaglyphs: 5859-60 5859-61 5860-61 |
Neil stepped a short way from
the ladder and took three frames looking past the ladder toward the
south |
| 110:31:47 |
About 7 meters west of the ladder |
Plus-Z
(west) Pan (7Mb) |
AS11-40- 5881-91 (color) |
Anaglyphs with context (9Mb) |
LRO
Map Indiv. anaglyphs: 5882a-83 5883-84 5884-85 5885-86 5888-89 5889-90 5890-91 |
Taken by Aldrin about 7 meters
west and a bit south of the ladder. See Fig.
3-15 from the Apollo
11
Preliminary
Science
Report. Contains the only good
Hasselblad image of Armstrong taken during the EVA. The 5883-84
anaglyph shows the small, fresh crater seen in the 5855-56 anaglyph
above. |
| 110:43:33 | About 10 meters north of the
Plus-Y (north) footpad |
Plus-Y
(north)
Pan
(7Mb) |
AS11-40- 5905-16 |
Anaglyphs with context (11Mb) |
LRO
Map Indiv. anaglyphs: 5907-08 5908-09 5909-10 5910-11 5913-14 5914-15 |
Buzz took this pan while standing on the southeast rim of a 5-m crater. See Fig. 3-15 from the Apollo 11 Preliminary Science Report. |
| 110:55:49 |
About 15 meters radially outward
from the SEQ Bay |
8
O'Clock
Pan
(6Mb) |
AS11-40- 5930-41 |
Angalyphs with context (8Mb) |
LRO
Map Indiv. anaglyphs: 5930-31 5931-32 5932-33 5933-34 5937-38 5938-39 5939-40 5940-41 5941-30 |
Neil took this pan while Buzz
was offloading the scientific packages. See Fig.
3-15 from the Apollo
11
Preliminary
Science
Report. The 5931-32 anaglyph gives a view
past the minus-Z (east) strut toward the fresh crater noted
previously. In the middle distance, we see a crater past the
strut with footprints on its southeast rim, where Buzz stood to take
the plus-Y (north) pan. |
| 111:12:31 |
Southwest rim of Little West
Crater |
Little
West
Crater
Partial
Pan |
AS11-40- 5954-61 |
LRO
map Indiv. anaglyphs: |
On his own initiative, Neil ran
out to the
crater late in the EVA, took the partial pan, and then ran back to the
LM. The crater diameter is about 33 meters. See Fig. 3-15 from the Apollo 11
Preliminary Science Report. |
|
| AS11-40- 5957-58 |
overlap anaglyph |
|||||
| AS11-40- 5958-59 |
overlap anaglyph |
|||||
| AS11-40- 5957-59 |
combined
anaglyph |
|||||
| 112:20:56 | LM cabin |
Neil Post-EVA pan |
AS11-37- 5496-5505 |
View to the south. The
Passive Seismic experiment is mostly hidden behind the upper thruster. |
||
| 112:20:56 |
LM cabin |
Buzz Post-EVA pan |
AS11-37- 5510-17 |
LRO map | The TV camera is about 20 meters
from Buzz's window, compared with 150 meters for the fresh crater noted
previously. |
|
3. Apollo 12, Mare Insularum (formerly part of Procellarum)
| Mission Elapsed Time |
Location | Color/ B&W |
Assembly Link | Frames | Anaglyphs |
Additional Material |
Notes |
| 111:58:43 |
LM Cabin |
BW |
CDR Window Pan (2Mb) |
AS12-48- 7023-27 |
LRO Map
(animated gif by Yuri Krasilnikov) |
Taken out Pete's window about
1.5 hours after landing. The LM shadow is about 65 to meters
long. It's tip falls in a shallow depression immediately west of
the LM. On the horizon, just to the left of the LM shadow is a crater with a raised rim and a large number of sizeable blocks. As discussed at 112:15:41, that crater is actually 4.5 km from the LM and has a diameter of 0.5 km. Details from 7024 and 26 show a small rock and a small crater in the patch of soil in the middle of the LM shadow illuminated by sunlight shining through a small gap between the LM stages next to the ascent engine bell. |
|
| 111:58:43 | LM Cabin |
BW |
LMP Window Pan (3Mb) |
AS12-48- 7028-32 |
The large mound is about one
fiducial spacing in from the right edge of the image, not far below the
horizon |
||
| 116:22:29 |
Color |
12 o'clock LM pan (5Mb) |
AS12-46- 6730-45 |
Anaglpyhs with context (9Mb) |
Indiv. anaglyphs: 6730-31 6731-32 6732-33 6733-34 6734-35 6735-36 6736-37 6737-38 6740-41 6741-42 6742-43 6743-44 6744-45 6745-30 |
Pete mistakenly took this pan at
15-foot focus, rather than 74-feet. |
|
| 116:24:47 |
Color | 4 o'clock LM pan (Mb) |
AS12-46- 6746-63 |
Taken at 15-foot focus |
|||
| 116:27:03 |
Color | 8 o'clock LM pan (Mb) |
AS12-46- 6764-82 |
Taken at 15-foot focus |
|||
| 116:57:52 |
Color | ALSEP Site Pan (Mb) |
AS12-46- 6796-811 |
||||
| 118:18:09 |
Color | 1st Middle Crescent Partial Pan
(Mb) |
AS12-46- 6836-44 |
||||
| 118:18:41 |
Color | 2nd Middle Crescent Partial Pan (Mb) | AS12-46- 6945-52 |
||||
| 118:28:21 |
Color |
12 o'clock LM Pan (4Mb) |
AS12-47- 6941-60 |
Anaglyphs with context (8Mb) |
Indiv. anaglyphs: 6942-43 6943-44 6944-45 6945-46 6946-47 6947-48 6948-49 6952-53 6953-54 6954-55 6955-56 6956-57 6957-58 6958-59 6959-60 |
Pete asked Al to take an unscheduled, 12 o'clock pan at the end of EVA-1, this time at 74-foot focus. | |
| 118:30:43 |
6 o'clock LM Pan (5Mb) |
AS12-47- 6961-81 |
Anaglyphs with context (10Mb) |
Indiv. anaglpyhs: 6962-63 6963-64 6964-65 6965-66 6966-67 6967-68 6968-69 6973-74 6974-75 6975-76 6976-77 6977-78 6978-79 |
|||
| 118:33:10 |
4 o'clock LM Pan (Mb) |
AS12-47- 6982-7006 |
|||||
4. Apollo 14, Fra Mauro Formation
| Mission Elapsed Time | Location | Color/ B&W |
Assembly Link | Frames | Anaglyphs |
Additional Material |
Notes |
| 109:46:23 |
LM Cabin |
LMP Window Pan (Mb) |
AS14-65- 9202-07 |
||||
| CDR Window Pan (Mb) |
AS14-65- 9209-15 |
||||||
| 114:53:38 |
4 o'clock LM Pan (Mb) | AS14-66- 9236-57 |
|||||
| 8 o'clock LM Pan (Mb) |
AS14-66- 9271-93 |
||||||
| 114:57:20 |
12 o'clock LM Pan (Mb) |
AS14-66- 9294-316 |
|||||
| 119:42:01 |
Post-EVA1 Window Pan (Mb) |
AS14-66- 9317-26 |
|||||
| 132:16:44 |
Station A Pan (Mb) |
AS14-68- 9394-408 |
|||||
| 133:40:48 |
Station C-1 Saddle Rock |
B&W |
Saddle Rock Portrait |
AS14-68-5449-51 |
|||
5 Apollo 15, Hadley
| Mission Elapsed Time | Location | Color/ B&W |
Assembly Link | Frames | Anaglyphs | Additional Material | Notes |
| 106:53:45 02:09 31 July 1971 UTC |
Docking Hatch | B&W | SEVA pan, Northern portion (1.5Mb) | AS15-85- 11355-62 |
The Stand-up EVA provided an
opportunity to assess trafficability for the LRV. Dave stood on
the ascent engine cover with his arms and shoulders above the rim of
the docking hatch. Because he was constrained by the hatch
opening and because most things in the field-of-view were at
considerable distance from the LM, little useful stereo that can be
extracted from the pan. |
||
| Eastern portion (3Mb) |
AS15-85- 11363-71 |
11370-71 |
|||||
| Southern portion (2.5Mb) |
11373+75 |
||||||
| 106:56:54 |
Docking Hatch | B&W |
500-mm, Hill 305 (2Mb) |
AS15-84- 11239-41 |
Metric
camera
frames
A15-M1134-5 (labelled) |
The base of Hill 305 is about 15
km from the LM on a bearing of 295. |
|
| 106:56:54 | Docking Hatch | B&W |
500-mm, Pluton Crater (2Mb) | AS15-84- 11242-43 |
Metric camera frames A15-M1134-5 (labelled) | Pluton Crater, 800 meters
across, is about 3 km from the LM on a bearing of 346. Although
Dave was usually able to keep the long lens steady; here, the righthand
frame is particularly blurred. |
|
| 106:56:54 |
Docking Hatch | B&W |
500-mm, Chain Crater (3Mb) |
AS15-84- 11244-46 |
Detail (0.5Mb) from June 1971
Apollo 15 Shaded Relief Map (6Mb) |
Chain Crater is immediately
southwest of Pluton. |
|
| 106:57:25 |
Docking Hatch |
500-mm, northern Hill 305 (5.6Mb) |
AS15-84- 11247-49 |
Detail (0.3Mb)
from LTO41B4 (12Mb) |
A deeply-shadowed face of Mt.
Hadley is on the right. Beyond the point where it reaches the
MESA surface is a northern portion of Hill 305. Distances from
the LM are shown in the detail. |
||
| 106:58:07 02:13 31 July 1971 UTC |
Docking Hatch |
500-mm, Silver Spur (9Mb) |
AS15-84- 11250-53 |
Labeled comparison (0.2Mb) of AS15-85-11371
with a detail from AS15-M-0414
|
B&W pan image 11371 taken at
02:09 UTC. Mapping Camera
image M-0414 (13Mb med. res.)
taken
at
02:13
UTC. |
||
6. Apollo 16, Descartes Highlands
6.1 LM/ALSEP
| Mission Elapsed Time | Location | Color/ B&W |
Assembly Link | Frames | Anaglyphs |
Additional Material | Notes |
| 106:15:45 |
LM Cabin, CDR Window |
C |
Post-landing CDR Window pan |
AS16-113- 18296-303 |
|||
| 106:15:45 | LM Cabin, LMP Window | C |
Post-landing LMP Window pan |
AS16-113- 18304-10 |
|||
| 119:33:46 |
LM |
C |
4 o'clock pan |
AS16-113- 18313-30 |
|||
| Northern portion |
18313-21 |
||||||
| Southern portion |
18321-30 |
||||||
| 120:33:48 |
LMP walks from LM to ALSEP |
TV |
5 x normal speed TV clip ( 6.8 Mb ) |
Shows Charlie carrying the ALSEP
packages west from the LM. He has to climb a noticeable slope in the
later parts of the clip. 120:38:28 Duke: (Turning to his right and facing north) I just climbed a little ridge. 120:38:33 England: Good show, Charlie. Don't strain yourself there. Just take it easy ... In fact, just stand there for a while. 120:38:40 Duke: (Turning to his right and facing north) I just climbed a little ridge. (Responding) I am. |
|||
| 122:12:32 |
ALSEP |
C |
ALSEP pan |
AS16-113- 18349-69 |
|||
| Northern portion |
18349-60 |
||||||
| Southern portion |
18361-70 |
||||||
| 143:13:46 | LM, early EVA-2 | 4 o'clock pan (8Mb) |
AS16-107- 17420-40 |
||||
| 4 o'clock pan Northern portion (4Mb) |
AS16-107- 17420-30 |
Anaglyphs with context (7Mb) |
Indiv. anaglyphs: 17420-21 17421-22 17422-23 17423-24 17424-25 17425-26 17426-27 17427-28 17428-29 17429-30 |
||||
| Southern portion (3Mb) | AS16-107- 17430-40 |
Anaglyphs with context (6Mb) | Indiv. anaglyphs: 17430-31 17431-32 17432-33 17433-34 17434-35 17435-36 17436-37 17437-38 17438-39 17439-40 |
||||
6.2 EVA-1 Traverse, Station 1, Station 2
| Mission Elapsed Time | Location | Color/ B&W |
Assembly Link | Frames | Anaglyphs |
Additional Material | Notes |
| 122:58:46 |
Cayley Plains, west of the LM |
B&W |
Traverse photos: LM to just south of Halfway Crater (13Mb) |
AS16-109- 17747-68 |
EVA-1
map based on LRO frame nacr00000ad8,
taken
12 July 2009 19:04:51 UTC, and Figures 3 and 6 in Chapter D1 of the USGS Professional Paper. |
||
| 123:18:46 |
Cayley Plain, west of the LM |
B&W |
Traverse photos: Halfway Crater to Plum Crater (4Mb) |
AS16-109- 17769-74 |
Begins with a shot at the rim of
the crater they mistook for Plum, taken after they got back on the
Rover. |
||
| 123:25:08 |
Station 1 |
B&W |
Charlie's pan (8Mb) |
AS16-109- 17775-93 |
Station 1 map, Figures 11 and 12 in Chapter D1 of the USGS Professional Paper. | Charlie's pan is Pan 4, taken at
the corresponding 'A' in the Station map. |
|
| Northern portion (3Mb) |
17775-17785 |
Anaglyphs with context (10Mb) |
Indiv. anaglyphs: 17776-77 17777-78 17778-79 17779-81 17779-80 17780-81 17781-82 17782-83 17783-84 17784-85 |
17783-84 not used in the stereo assembly |
|||
| Southern portion (2.4Mb) |
17787-93 |
Anaglyphs with context (5Mb) |
Indiv. anaglyphs: 17787-88 17789-90 17790-91 17791-92 17792-93 |
||||
| 124:02:22 |
Station 1 |
c |
John's pan (12Mb) |
AS16-114- 18415-32 |
Station 1 map | John's pan is Pan 5 in the
Station map. Apparently, at about the time John took 18426,
Charlie started moving south from where he'd been sampling when John
took 18423
and
24. John may have decided to wait for Charlie to get into
the field-of-view before taking 18427. |
|
| Northern portion (7Mb) |
18416-23 |
||||||
| Southern portion (6Mb) |
18425-32 |
||||||
| 124:23:34 |
Station 2 |
Charlie's Spook pan (9Mb) |
AS16-109- 17811-27 |
LRO
detail from nacr00000ad8 Station 2 Map |
Pan taken halfway between the
LRV
and the rim of Spook Crater |
||
| Northern portion (3Mb) |
17811-19 |
Anaglyphs with context (7Mb) |
Remapped images: 17811, 17812, 17813, 17814, 17815, 17816, 17817, 17818, 17819 Indiv. Anaglyphs: 17811-12 17812-13 17813-14 17814-15 17815-16 17816-17 17817-18 17818-19 Side-by-side l-r (parallel) stereo pairs: 17811-12 17812-13 17813-14 17814-15 17816-17 17817-18 17818-19 |
Buster Crater is beyond the
LRV. The LRV is about 20m from where Charlie took the pan
and the near rim of Bust is about 75 m. Tire tracks made
when they drove up close to the rim of Buster at about 123:08:09
can be seen beyond the Rover on the right. |
|||
| Southern portion (5Mb) |
17819-27 |
Anaglyphs with context (6Mb) |
Indiv. Anaglyphs 17819-20 17820-21 17821-22 17822-23 17823-24 17824-25 17825-26 17826-27 |
||||
| Charlie's partial Buster pan (3Mb) |
AS16-109- 17828-36 |
Stereo partial pan (6Mb) | Indiv. anaglyphs: 17828-29 17832-33 17835-36 |
||||
7. Apollo 17, Valley of Taurus-Littrow
(The following has been derived from the Apollo 17 Mission Report, Lunar Sourcebook and USGS Apollo 17 Professional Paper.)
The Valley of Taurus-Littrow is on the southeast margin of the Serenitatis Basin, with its long axis pointing toward the center of the basin. It is flanked on the north and south by mountains that rise two km or more above the valley floor. The valley and mountains form a classic graben/horst geologic structure, which resulted from outward displacement of material at the edge of the basin during the impact, 3.87 billion years ago. Relatively soon after the impact event, lava began to fill the Serentitatis Basin. Geophysical measurements made during the mission suggest that the lava fill at Taurus-Littrow is about 1000 - 1200 m thick. The ages of the basalt samples returned by the crew indicate that the filling ended about 3.6 to 3.7 billion years ago. The thickness of the regolith layer accumulated since that time is not well determined at Taurus-Littrow. Typical thicknesses on the lunar mare are about 5 meters. Regolith sampled in the center of the valley is composed almost entirely of basalt fragments, indicating that material thrown off the mountains is not an important contributor. Serentitatis is a relatively old mare, suggesting that typical regolith thickness at Taurus-Littrow is greater than 5 meters. Evidence at Shorty Crater indicates a regolith thickness of 10 to 15 meters while, at Van Serg Crater, the regolith thickness is more than 15 meters. Like all mare surfaces, the valley floor has relatively few large craters but increasing numbers at smaller sizes. Overall, the valley is relatively flat, sloping down about 1 degree toward its eastern end. On smaller, local scales, the cumulative effect of randomly-distributed impacts is an surface between the larger craters that rises and falls a few meters over distances of several tens of meters.
Trafficability on the valley floor is good. During the three traverses, Cernan and Schmitt drove a map distance of 32.3 kilometers in 253.5 minutes, giving an average speed of 7.6 km/hr. At that speed Cernan had to keep his eye on the road to spot hazards but, generally, was able to see hazards in plenty of time to steer around them. The total odometer distance travelled during the three traverses was 36.0 kilometers, only 11.5 percent greater than the map distance. The most important hazards were fresh craters from about the same size as the Rover (3 meters long) up to a size where crater rims and ejecta are easily visible in the rolling terrain. Around the LM, the average spacing of fresh craters bigger than 3 meters is roughly 40 meters.
The mountains that bound the valley are composed of pre-Serentitatis material uplifted during the event. These were then draped with Serentitatis ejecta, much of it impact-melt breccias. During the second and third EVAs, the crew visited locations on the lower slopes of the North and South Masiffs where they could examine and sample boulders that had tumbled down into reach from outcrops of Serenitiats ejecta high on the mountains. The slopes above these locations are about 26 degrees.
Because of the slopes, impacts on the mountain flanks produces net downward motion of ejecta. Rock outcrops on the upper third of the South Massif and the upper two thirds of the Noth Massif indicate that the regolith on those parts of the mountains is thin. On the lower parts mountains, depth of the regolith increases toward the bottom and then decreases with distance out on the valley floor. At about the 4800 m contour at the base on the North Massif in the 1974 Lunar Topophotomap of the landing site, the slope changes for about 26 degrees to something like 16 degrees on the accumulated talus. Simplistic geometry suggests talus accumulations at the base of the mountain of up to 40 meters.
One notable feature of the mountain flanks are tracks made by boulders as they bounced, tumbled, rolled, and slide down from various outcrops after being disloadged by impacts or seismic activity. Figure 8-15 from the Apollo 17 Prelimiinary Science Report shows identified boulder tracks on the North Massif.
7.1 Valley Floor, LM/ALSEP/SEP
| Mission Elapsed Time | Location | Color/ B&W |
Assembly
Link
|
Frames | Anaglyphs |
Additional Material | Notes | |
| 115:03:02 | LM Cabin, LMP Window |
C |
Pre-EVA LMP Window | AS17-147- 22469-76 |
||||
| LM Cabin, CDR Window |
Pre-EVA CDR Window | AS17-147- 22479-91 |
||||||
| 117:47:43 |
4 o'clock LM position |
C |
AS17-147- 22492-521 |
|||||
| Western portion | 22493-504, 517 to 519 |
Clockwise from the LM to the
Wessex Cleft |
||||||
| Northern portion | 22493-509 |
Clockwise from down-Sun to up-Sun | ||||||
| Eastern portion | 22504-14 |
Clockwise from Wessex Cleft to
the LM |
||||||
| 120:36:02 |
Geophone 4 |
C |
Geo. 4 Partial | AS17-147- 22528-32 |
||||
| 120:40:30 |
Geophone 3 |
C |
AS17-147- 22544-62 |
|||||
| Northern portion | 22544-55 |
Clockwise from down-Sun to up-Sun | ||||||
| Southern portion | 22553-61 |
Clockwise from up-Sun to down-Sun | ||||||
| 120:48:56 |
ALSEP |
C |
AS17-147- 22569-88 |
|||||
| Northern portion | Clockwise from down-Sun to up-Sun | |||||||
| Southern portion | Clockwise from up-Sun to down-Sun | |||||||
| 120:55:55 |
ALSEP |
BW |
AS17-136- 20683-710 |
|||||
| Northern portion (3Mb) |
20687-99 |
Anaglyphs with context (7Mb) |
Indiv. Anaglyps: 20688-89 20689-90 20690-91 20691-92 20692-93 20693-94 20694-95 20695-96 |
Clockwise from down-Sun to up-Sun | mid-distance anaglyphs done |
|||
| Southern portion (3Mb) |
20685-86 plus 20699-710 |
Anaglyphs with context (7Mb) |
Indiv. Anaglyphs: 20685-86 20701-02 20702-03 20703-04 20704-05 20705-06 20706-08 20708-09 |
Clockwise from up-Sun to down-Sun | mid-distance anaglyphs done |
|||
| 123:06:24 |
SEP |
C |
Partial Pan |
AS17-134- 20437-46 |
||||
| 127:02:28 | South Massif outcrops, LMP window |
AS17-144- 21983-88 |
||||||
| 127:02:28 | North Massif boulder tracks, LMP
Window |
AS17-144- 21991-93 |
Taken with the 500-mm lens. The images are blurred by camera motion due to the difficulty Jack had in aiming the camera off to his right in the cramped confines of the LM cabin. The 'dark boulder' and the lower part of its track are on the right. Orientation of the assembly matches that seen in AS17-147-22502, a frame from Jack's 4 o'clock pan taken at 117:47:43, early in EVA-1. A second boulder, below and slightly to the left of the dark boulder, also has an associated track. | |||||
| 127:02:28 |
North Massif outcrops, LMP window |
AS17-144- 21994-98 |
7.2 Valley Floor, EVA-1 Traverse and Station 1
| Mission Elapsed Time | Location | Color/ B&W |
Assembly Link | Frames | Anaglyphs |
Additional Material | Notes |
| 1215051 |
Valley floor |
B&W |
Traverse photos: SEP to Sta 1 (16Mb) |
AS17-136- 20723-38 AS17-134- 20390-93 |
LRO
detail (1 Oct 2009) of EVA-1 traverse |
Because Jack is carrying a
seismic charge, he only averages about 1 picture every 75 meters
during the drive. |
|
| 122:26:14 | Station 1 | C | AS17-134- 20408-31 |
||||
| Northern portion | 20408 to 11, 20426 to 31 |
Clockwise from down-Sun to up-Sun | |||||
| Southern portion | 20411 to 25 | Clockwise from up-Sun to down-Sun | |||||
| 122:32:24 | Station 1 | B&W |
AS17-136- 20744-76 |
||||
| Northern portion | 20745 to 62 | Clockwise from down-Sun to up-Sun | |||||
| Southern portion | 20764 to 76 | Clockwise from up-Sun to down-Sun | |||||
| 122:36:58 |
Valley Floor |
B&W |
Traverse photos: Return from Sta. 1 - Part 1 (17Mb) |
AS17-136- 20777-96 |
LRO detail (1 Oct 2009) of EVA-1 traverse | This sequence ends at about 122:40:04
just
before
Gene
turns
to
his
left
(west)
so
Jack
can
take
some
pictures
of
the
white
mantle and the LM. Jack has taken 20 pictures
during the 400-meter drive, or about one every 20 meters |
|
| 122:40:04 |
Valley floor |
B&W |
Traverse photos: Return from Sta. 1 - Part 2 (13Mb) |
AS17-136- 20797-814 |
LRO detail (1 Oct 2009) of EVA-1 traverse | Sequence ends just before
deployment of EP-7 at 122:42:15 |
|
| 122:42:15 | Valley floor |
B&W C |
EP-7 "Locators" |
AS17-136- 20814-15 AS17-134- 20433-34 |
LRO detail (1 Oct 2009) of EVA-1 traverse | "Locator" shots taken before
Jack deploys the seismic charge |
|
| 122:43:12 |
Valley floor |
B&W |
EP-7 LRV Pan see, also, a PDF version (12Mb) |
AS17-136- 20815-28 |
LRO detail (1 Oct 2009) of EVA-1 traverse | Gene drove the Rover in a slow,
clockwise circle
around the seismic charge while Jack took a sequence of thirteen
frames. The stitched assembly uses on the upper right portion of
each frame |
|
| 122:43:44 |
Valley floor |
B&W |
Return trv from Sta. 1 - Part 3 (13Mb) |
AS17-136- 20828-44 |
LRO detail of EVA-1 traverse | Sequence ends as they emerge
from a depression where Jack photographed what they believe is bedrock
at 122:45:33.
The
photos
of
the
bedrock
are
probably
20838
to
20842.
The
bearing
and
distance
to
the
LM
is 336 and 0.4 km. |
|
| 122:45:33 | Valley floor |
B&W |
Return from Sta. 1 - Part 4 (16Mb) |
AS17-136- 20844-63 |
LRO detail (1 Oct 2009) of EVA-1 traverse | the sequence ends when Gene drop
Jack off at the SEP receiver before laying down orthogonal Rover tracks
to guide deployment of the SEP antenna wires. |
|
7.2 EVA-2
| Mission Elapsed Time |
Location | Color/ B&W |
Assembly Link | Frames | Anaglyphs |
Additional Material | Notes |
| 143:01:23 | EVA-2, LM, 8 o'clock |
AS17-137- 20866-93 |
|||||
| 143:01:52 | Station 2 Boulder 1, Gene | AS17-137- 20903-08 |
|||||
| 143:01:52 | Station 2 Boulder 1, Jack | AS17-138- 21030-35 |
|||||
| 143:10:08 | Station 2 Boulder 2, Gene | AS17-137- 20912-23 |
|||||
| 143:22:02 | Station 2, Gene | AS17-137- 20926-56 |
|||||
| 143:37:16 | Station 2, Jack | AS17-138- 21053-73 |
|||||
7.3 EVA-3 Traverse to North Massif,
Turning Point Rock, Station 6, and Station 7
Gene and Jack took multiple photographs at three locations on the North
Massif: Turning Point Rock, where they maneuvered the Rover to
get
good photographic coverage but didn't dismount; and Stations 6 and
7. These three sites are marked in a CSM Pan Camera detail, along with
three boulders that serve are markers in some of the photographs.
| Mission Elapsed Time | Location | Color/ B&W |
Assembly Link | Frames | Anaglyphs |
Additional Material | Notes |
| 164:24:50 |
Valley floor, north of the LM |
B&W |
LM to Rover Sample Stop ( 22 Mb ) |
AS17-141- 21519-41 |
|||
| 164:33:38 |
Valley floor, north of the LM | B&W | LRV Sample Stop to first view of
Henry ( 8 Mb ) |
AS17-141- 21542-49 |
|||
| 164:37:49 |
Valley floor, north of the LM | B&W | Henry to the foot of the North
Massif |
AS17-141- 21549-59 |
|||
| LRO Detail (1 Oct 2009) TPR,
Stations 6 and 7 |
|||||||
| 166:26:58 |
Station 7 | C | Gene's Sta. 7 pan (9Mb) | AS17-146- 22339-63 |
|||
| Southern portion (4Mb) Views out into the valley and along the slopes to the east and west. |
22339 to 55 |
Anaglyphs with context (8Mb) |
Indiv. anaglyphs: 22339-40 22340-41 22341-42 22342-43 22343-44 22344-45 22347-48 22348-49 22349-50 22350-51 22351-52 22352-53 22353-54 22354-55 |
Labelled version (1Mb) |
|||
North Massif Outcrops. Jack continued taken 500-mm photos out his window, taking this portrait of outcrops
on the upper part of the mountain. Assembly by Eric Jones. Click on the image for a full-resolution version.
Gene's 500mm shots taken outside the LM
Photographic Sites on the North Massif
Overlay
of details from the 1974
Topophotomap and Pan Camera frame
AS17-2309
showing the locations and elevations of Turning Point Rock and Stations 6 and 7.
The scale and the lower right indicates 1 km. The contour intervals are 20 m.
(Click on the image for a larger version.)
showing the locations and elevations of Turning Point Rock and Stations 6 and 7.
The scale and the lower right indicates 1 km. The contour intervals are 20 m.
(Click on the image for a larger version.)
Station 7
For this second EVA-3 geology stop on North Massif, Cernan and Schmitt parked near a a 3-m high boulder, which proved to have been at its current location (its emplacment age) for 28 million years. The maximum dimension of the boulder is about 5 meters. From page 6-27 in the Preliminary Science Report), Although there is no visible boulder track, there is little doubt that the Station 7 boulder was derived from the North Massif because of its similarity in composition ahd structure to other material collected from the Massif. Because it is considerably smaller than the Station 6 boulder, it probably bounded downslope - as did those of comparable size on the South Massif (fig 6-6) - rather than rolled." As shown in the superposition of the 1974 contour map on the pan camera frame for Stations 6 and 7, Station 7 is at an elevation of about 4720 m, which is 40 to 60 meters above the valley floor at this east-west location. The local slope is about 9 degrees.
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