One geologists traveling a few miles in the rover might have missed a few things.
Posted on 12/04/2016 12:54:57 AM PST by moose07
A proposed private space mission is planning to visit Apollo 17's landing site on the Moon.
A German team wants to land a pair of rovers on the lunar surface to inspect the buggy left behind in 1972 on the last crewed mission to the Moon.
The group, called PT Scientists, is one of 16 teams vying for the $30m Google Lunar X-Prize.
It has signed a deal with launch broker Spaceflight Inc. to secure a ride on a commercial launcher.
The XPrize will award the first privately funded teams to land a robot on the Moon that travels more than 500 metres (1,640 ft) and transmits back high-definition images and video.
Spaceflight Inc will place the mission with a commercial launcher, but it is not yet known which one.
The PT Scientists team has been working with German car manufacturer Audi on the solar-powered rovers, which will be capable of sending back high-definition video.
The rovers are expected to touch down 3-5km from the Apollo 17 landing site in the Moon's Taurus-Littrow valley. It will then drive to within 200m of the lunar rover and inspect it remotely.
Nasa guidelines stipulate that missions should land at least 2km away from US space agency heritage sites and not approach closer than 200m in order to avoid the risk of damage to these historic locations.
The rover's cameras should be able to assess the condition of the Apollo buggy and how it has fared in the Moon's harsh environment - including damage from micro-meteorites.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
A lot of advances came out of the space program we had.
Maybe another real space program?
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
I have read that 20 to 25 percent of Americans do not believe the lunar landings ever occurred.
The mission can accomplish 2 things. One, refute the BS and two, totally shift the theory to accommodate the “adjusted” stance. Both will be interestingly humorous to observe.
One geologists traveling a few miles in the rover might have missed a few things.
“Maybe another real space program?”
I’m all for that.
The work creating the last one spread around the planet.
Let private industry handle it.
NASA should be at best a minor advisory role if any.
If that happens, remind me to stay away from Cheyenne Mountain.
He who holds the high ground has the advantage in any battle.
Our enemies are going, we have been there. We need to return and stay.
100% correct.
“If I were Trump I would offer these guys a few million bucks to put a Trump 2020 bumper sticker on the Moon Buggy and a Webcam that transmits 24/7 just to watch the Liberals heads explode!”
Do it with a Trump 2016 sticker then deny you went near the buggy. Say it had to be the Russians.
“I slogged through the book but found nothing that would warrant going back to the Moon ever again!”
Our enemies don’t have the same opinion. It has been well noted that the technologies developed for the space exploration efforts have more than paid for the accumulated costs of the moon landing, many times over.
Freakin' Selenites. I wonder how Professor Cavor is faring?
How do they plan to inspect for “micro-meteorites” on the old Apollo gear if they can’t get closer than 200meters away? Is it just me, or does something sound stupid here?
I think the article is taken from a concept briefing note.
Full of ideas...
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