NASA video Apollo Landing Sites from satellite

Great satellite video showing Apollo landing sites and equipment that was left behind. Great video from NASA for all to enjoy

The pictures clearly show the hardware left on the lunar surface by American astronauts in the 1960s and 70s, including Apollo 17's "Moon buggy".

The images were acquired by the robotic Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which has been circling Earth's satellite since 2009.

Such shots have been returned before, but these are the best yet.

LRO has recently lowered its orbit from 50km above the Moon's surface to just 25km.

This makes it easier to see equipment, such as the descent stages that put the astronauts on the surface. Some of the science experiments are visible, also - as are the trails of bootmarks left in the dirt as the crews positioned these science packages.

In an extreme blow-up of the Apollo 17 Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), it is just possible to discern the condition in which the astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt parked the buggy - with its wheels turned to the left.

LRO has been a highly productive mission. It has now returned several hundred thousands pictures of the lunar surface.

The probe was originally conceived as a robotic precursor to future manned missions. However, when Nasa might return to the lunar body with astronauts is not clear. Last year, US politicians cancelled the project, known as Constellation, that was intended to achieve this feat.

"We all like to obsess and look at the Apollo landing site images because it's fun," said Mark Robinson, the LROC principal investigator from Arizona State University, Tempe.
LRO artist's impression LRO was launched in 2009

"People actually used to be able to go to the Moon; people used to explore the Moon - and hopefully sometime in the future that will continue again. But LROC is looking at the whole Moon and we've taken about 1,500 of these high-resolution images distributed all around the Moon... and this is just a huge resource for anybody studying the Moon, doing science; and engineers planning to go back to the Moon in general and to specific sites."

Erosion processes on the Moon work much slower than on an active planet like Earth. Eventually, though, all traces of the Moon landings will be erased.

The lunar body is constantly bombarded by micrometeorites that will, in time, mix up the boottracks and break down the equipment. It has been estimated that rock at the surface erodes at a rate of about 1mm per million years.

"In human years, it may seem like forever, but in geologic terms probably there will be no traces of the Apollo exploration in let's say 10 to 100 million years," said Dr Robinson.

On Thursday, Nasa will launch its latest Moon mission - the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (Grail).

This is a pair of satellites that will survey the Moon's gravity in unprecedented detail. The data will reveal its internal structure, helping to explain how the lunar body formed and why its nearside now looks so different from its farside.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• nasa
• nasa video
• nasa apollo
• apollo mission
• the moon
• moon
• lunar module
• earth space satellite

[encrypt777]

All in all still a cool video

[kiararei]

typical humans, left behind their rubbish even when visiting another planet

[encrypt777]

@kiararei Im sorry I had to laugh but that was the first thing I noticed also :-D and they talk about us lol

[MTMind2]

@Lachausis - To be honest, EVERYTHING looks CGI or 'photoshopped' to somebody these days :), hence you have to look beyond that. Why would NASA fake photos that will EASILY to shown to be fake by probes from other countries/nations (Japan, China, Europe, private companies etc) in the near future. That doesn't make sense. Hence they are real.

Every new piece of evidence supports the moon landings, such as Japan's Kaguya (Serene) probe a few years ago;

/watch?v=bpveN21EM9Q

/watch?v=6r80qhoPB0g

[MTMind2]

@TheDrac3000 - (Excuse the typos)

To add to my last post, why haven't any moon hoax films attempted to do that? If I believed the footage was faked and I was a film maker, my documentary would open with an apparent Apollo scene, with astronauts bouncing around in 1/6th G. THEN, 30 secs later, they would be joined by a guy in casual clothes who also bounces around in 1/6th G. What an opening! I'll reveal how it was done (i.e. how NASA did it) at the end of my film, proving it's possible.

[MTMind2]

@TheDrac3000 - Hence my problem with the faked video claims. Apollo's 1/6th gravity is perfect, even kicked up dust falls back down at 1/6th G, so why haven't sci-fi movies come close to matching it? Even in the highest budget sci-fi series and films, no matter how many alien worlds and spaceships they visit, gravity exists mostly in 2 states, earth gravity or zero gravity, never 1/6th G, or 1/3rd G, or half G etc. Why can't they do was NASA is said to have easily done 42 years ago?

[MTMind2]

@TheDrac3000 - Firstly, thanks :) Secondly, that wasn't quite what I was asking for, since that's what moon hoax believers have already been doing for a few decades (hence their claims on YT). My point is about actual proof of concept. Eg, if some claim Usain Bolt uses secret jets in his shoes, then magnified photos of what they claim are signs of an exhaust from his shoes is not proof, I first want someone to build jet enhanced shoes to prove it's possible to cheat that way! :)

[TheDrac3000]

@MTMind2 very well said,I am working on this 'very thing' as we speak.I spent hours,days figuring out the different ways Nasa has tampered with the photos of the MoonI found them.they use 6 different techniques,hiding the real surface of the moon,I can change 5 of these tech. back to original pic.but the 6th..I call Blacknas'A.,as they 'Erased the images inside of photo..but the photos i have now,you will know why,they could not film live' on moon,Hieroglyphs,machines etc.everywhere

[MTMind2]

@TheDrac3000 - Sorry, but I'm not interested in such claims, all I'm seeing is the same kind of pattern fitting logic that makes some believe Nostradamus predicted many events in history, that the Qur'an states many discoveries found in modern science, and to claims found in the book "The Bible Code" and much more.

Like other moon landing conspiracies, your argument depends on the footage being faked, therefore it means nothing until you can prove 100% that it's possible to fake.

[TheDrac3000]

@MTMind2and realize the True meaning of these Dates and exact ETA's, of Apollo missions,after you research ''illuminati'' and their 'Sacred numbers,The numbers 3, 7, 9,11,13, 33, 39. Any multiple of these numbers have special meaning to the Illuminati.the Bilderberg Group has core of 39 members who are broken into 3 groups of 13 members in each group.the core of 39 answers to the 13 who make up the Policy Committee.the 13 members of the Policy Committee answer to the Round Table of Nine

[MTMind2]

@TheDrac3000 - Good, so you agree they landed on the moon (6 times btw, although you may disagree), so let's take your claim that the footage is faked. How? Moon hoax believers say NASA used the tech of the time, which is wires and slow motion, and yet no sci-fi movie ever made nor any moon hoax film has ever recreated 1/6th gravity to the perfection seen in Apollo footage using such tech. So how did NASA achieve in 1969 what the world's best special effects experts can't do today?

[TheDrac3000]

@MTMind2 With all due respect..back"! I hope you read this comment a tad' more carefully,as I never stated.."They didn't go to Moon"..I stated,that the "Film Footage" they show us' walking on Moon,is Faked'.If you knew,10% of what I know'...you would realize,that you're beginning statements actually confirm 'Everything',that I had stated...you should do research on the Past, to present on these subjects...Saul Alinsky./The illuminati./Apollo missions,Dates/ETA...you will know..con't 2

[MTMind2]

@TheDrac3000 - With all due respect, your reply is nonsense :) We live in a global economy, where everyone trades with everyone else, so to claim that China and Japan are somehow beholding to the USA and therefore part of the conspiracy is ridiculous. After the economic crisis of 2007/2008, for which we're still suffering the effects today, China are now in a far stronger position than ever before, and have their own plans to send men to the moon. The moon landings were real, get over it :-)

[TheDrac3000]

@MTMind2 These Countries you mentioned,are ALL getting a Great deal of money from the U.S,every year...Now China is getting our Gasoline...our Gov. says,they are getting better prices from China,so Now we suffer Gas shortage,and almost $5.00 per Gal...so every Piece of NEW Evidence Shows....BLACKMAIL!!!!!!

''Why would Nasa Fake Photos...how about Billions of Tax-payer money per year,since before the Apollo missions began..what do you think every U.S citiz. would do..finding out lie.