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Apollo Discussions => The Reality of Apollo => Topic started by: onebigmonkey on October 03, 2015, 12:13:04 PM

Title: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: onebigmonkey on October 03, 2015, 12:13:04 PM
So turbonium over on ATS brought up his (and/or her) disagreement with Japan's Kaguya analysis of the burn halo around Apollo 15's LM.

Usual stuff, but I was irked enough to find Chandrayaan's view of the same thing, as they'd also published a paper on it.

Here are the two sources I looked at:

http://global.jaxa.jp/press/2008/05/20080520_kaguya_e.html

http://global.jaxa.jp/press/2008/05/20080520_kaguya_e.html

When I looked closely at the Chandrayaan image, I spotted something.

When I then looked at Kaguya's image, I spotted the same thing.

Here's a comparison of Indias view (left), Japan's (right) and the LRO (centre).

(http://onebigmonkey.com/itburns/hadley/chandkagzoom.jpg)

You can argue about the influence of the engine on the surface all you like, but for my one there is incontrovertible evidence of disturbed ground exactly where the LM is. Japan's image also has clear evidence of the same kind of disturbance around the location of the ALSEP, and hint of a trail towards it. India's image could, if it were possible to get a version without the red line of the halo boundary, arguably contain similar evidence of disturbance around the ALSEP and LRV final parking spot.

The Japanese reference above also mentions an Apollo 15 Panoramic Camera image, AS15-9430.

While the version of that image at the Apollo Image Atlas is low quality, the online scan available (and downloadable) at the ASU is very good. Here's what you can see when you zoom into the area of where the LM ended up, and enhance things a little:

(http://onebigmonkey.com/itburns/hadley/pana15aa.jpg)

and here is the LRO view of the same area:

(http://onebigmonkey.com/itburns/hadley/lroap15.jpg)

That's pretty impressive I'm sure you'll agree. What is also impressive is that while the JAXA site claims the image was taken in the first couple of orbits after landing, it is incorrect - it was actually taken on Rev 27, just after the end of the first EVA. That first EVA's job was to set up the ALSEP, and that is exactly where you can see a trail heading.

There were, however, other Panoramic images taken in the early part of the mission, and here's one of them from orbit 16, AS15-9370, cropped and enhanced again:

(http://onebigmonkey.com/itburns/hadley/pana15cc.jpg)

This image was taken about 22 hours before the previous one, and before the first EVA. Not only is there no evidence of any disturbed ground, the LM shadow is considerably longer.

We also have another pan cam shot taken after the LM had returned to orbit, and while it is less clear than the other two, there is evidently more evidence of human activity - including around where the LRV was parked up before lift off:

(http://onebigmonkey.com/itburns/hadley/pana15ee.jpg)

The LM shadow has all but disappeared from this view.

So there we are - not only did Japan and India get a view of what Apollo astronauts were up to at Hadley, the CSM's panoramic camera did too :)
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: bknight on October 03, 2015, 12:41:30 PM
Your eyes are way better than mine.  Here is the image and I know what I'm looking for and still can't find the LM.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a15/a15.pan9430.jpg

All I am able to make out is a piece of the Rill.
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: onebigmonkey on October 03, 2015, 12:59:00 PM
Try here:

http://wms.lroc.asu.edu/apollo/view?camera=P&image_name=AS15-P-9430

I should have linked to those originally :)

To see others just replace the last 4 digits with the image you want to see.

The entire collection can be accessed here:

http://wms.lroc.asu.edu/apollo/browse/
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: BertieSlack on October 03, 2015, 03:17:45 PM
So there we are - not only did Japan and India get a view of what Apollo astronauts were up to at Hadley, the CSM's panoramic camera did too :)

GoneToPlaid published a masterful video on Youtube which showed deconvolved and enhanced versions of the A15 orbital photos of the A15 landing site (panoramic and metric cameras). They were superb. Sadly the video disappeared when GTP closed his account. IIRC, the versions published after the mission were deliberately lower resolution than the originals because NASA didn't want the Soviets to know how good their orbital imaging capability had become.

Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: onebigmonkey on October 03, 2015, 03:33:55 PM
GoneToPlaid published a masterful video on Youtube which showed deconvolved and enhanced versions of the A15 orbital photos of the A15 landing site (panoramic and metric cameras). They were superb. Sadly the video disappeared when GTP closed account. IIRC, the versions published after the mission were deliberately lower resolution than the originals because NASA didn't want the Soviets to know how good their orbital imaging capability had become.

Well you learn something new everyday :)

On another mission, here's what you can see from Apollo 17

http://wms.lroc.asu.edu/apollo/view?camera=P&image_name=AS17-P-2750

(http://i58.tinypic.com/261ykih.jpg)
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: bknight on October 03, 2015, 04:05:03 PM
GoneToPlaid published a masterful video on Youtube which showed deconvolved and enhanced versions of the A15 orbital photos of the A15 landing site (panoramic and metric cameras). They were superb. Sadly the video disappeared when GTP closed account. IIRC, the versions published after the mission were deliberately lower resolution than the originals because NASA didn't want the Soviets to know how good their orbital imaging capability had become.

Well you learn something new everyday :)

On another mission, here's what you can see from Apollo 17

http://wms.lroc.asu.edu/apollo/view?camera=P&image_name=AS17-P-2750

(http://i58.tinypic.com/261ykih.jpg)
After A11 where the command pilots able to view the landers with there telescopes?
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: onebigmonkey on October 03, 2015, 05:21:56 PM
After A11 where the command pilots able to view the landers with there telescopes?

I believe other missions did catch sight of the LMs on the ground.
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: smartcooky on October 03, 2015, 06:09:10 PM
So there we are - not only did Japan and India get a view of what Apollo astronauts were up to at Hadley, the CSM's panoramic camera did too :)

GoneToPlaid published a masterful video on Youtube which showed deconvolved and enhanced versions of the A15 orbital photos of the A15 landing site (panoramic and metric cameras). They were superb. Sadly the video disappeared when GTP closed his account. IIRC, the versions published after the mission were deliberately lower resolution than the originals because NASA didn't want the Soviets to know how good their orbital imaging capability had become.



Do you mean this one

Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: onebigmonkey on October 03, 2015, 06:16:39 PM

Do you mean this one



That one just seems to be LRO views? Fantastic work by him as usual though. Must dig out my 3d specs :D
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: bknight on October 03, 2015, 10:47:51 PM
What is interesting to me, the foot/rover tracks .  I remember a blunder video where he attempted to sweep them under the regolith as they couldn't be identified from that altitude.
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: Allan F on October 04, 2015, 01:05:40 AM
And he was correct. BUT the disturbance on the surface caused by the kicking of dust - that is visible. And boy wonder didn't know about that.
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: BertieSlack on October 04, 2015, 01:25:37 AM

Do you mean this one



No - it was a different one. When GoneToPlaid closed his YT account, he gave Astrobrant2 access to all his videos so that Brant could upload them to his own account so that his work would be available to the rest of us. Brant's been busy with other stuff, but I might start bugging him to upload the one about the A15 mission photos from orbit.
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: onebigmonkey on October 04, 2015, 02:05:28 AM
As always with such things it's always disappointing to find that you have been beaten to it, but I'd love to see what GTP did with the images!

Going back to my version, given that this photo is taken at the end of EVA-1, as is my first image from Apollo 15's Panoramic camera, do people think that the small object next to the LM is the parked up rover?

It isn't there in LRO shots or the other Panoramic camera shots, and the view south towards St George is consistent with the idea.

(http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a15/AS15-86-11602.jpg)
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: BertieSlack on October 04, 2015, 03:53:49 AM
I'd love to see what GTP did with the images!

IIRC, he concentrated on one taken after the LM had returned to orbit.
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: bknight on October 04, 2015, 08:03:59 AM
And he was correct. BUT the disturbance on the surface caused by the kicking of dust - that is visible. And boy wonder didn't know about that.
I wasn't talking about the individual marks which would be too small to differentiate from that altitude with the camera on board, but rather the evidence of the walking driving etc.

I saw your avatar in the 1 million euro challenge also, never could figure out what it said until I saw a larger image. :)
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: onebigmonkey on October 09, 2015, 12:26:04 AM
Apollo 14, seen from Apollo 16 in AS16-P-4707 on one of the 2Gb TIF sections of the image:

(http://i60.tinypic.com/2rn8vly.jpg)

Took some finding!
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: onebigmonkey on October 10, 2015, 03:21:25 AM
While it is disappointing to find that you are a little behind the times and that there is nothing new under the sun, it's nice to know that Apollo Panoramic camera analyses were publicly available long before Photoshop, and came to the same conclusions:

http://apollo.sese.asu.edu/RESOURCES/Kinney1972_Ap15PanPhotoAnalysis.pdf

Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: bknight on October 11, 2015, 01:47:46 AM
So turbonium over on ATS brought up his (and/or her) disagreement with Japan's Kaguya analysis of the burn halo around Apollo 15's LM.

Usual stuff, but I was irked enough to find Chandrayaan's view of the same thing, as they'd also published a paper on it.

Here are the two sources I looked at:

http://global.jaxa.jp/press/2008/05/20080520_kaguya_e.html

http://global.jaxa.jp/press/2008/05/20080520_kaguya_e.html

When I looked closely at the Chandrayaan image, I spotted something.

When I then looked at Kaguya's image, I spotted the same thing.

Here's a comparison of Indias view (left), Japan's (right) and the LRO (centre).

(http://onebigmonkey.com/itburns/hadley/chandkagzoom.jpg)

You can argue about the influence of the engine on the surface all you like, but for my one there is incontrovertible evidence of disturbed ground exactly where the LM is. Japan's image also has clear evidence of the same kind of disturbance around the location of the ALSEP, and hint of a trail towards it. India's image could, if it were possible to get a version without the red line of the halo boundary, arguably contain similar evidence of disturbance around the ALSEP and LRV final parking spot.

The Japanese reference above also mentions an Apollo 15 Panoramic Camera image, AS15-9430.

While the version of that image at the Apollo Image Atlas is low quality, the online scan available (and downloadable) at the ASU is very good. Here's what you can see when you zoom into the area of where the LM ended up, and enhance things a little:

(http://onebigmonkey.com/itburns/hadley/pana15aa.jpg)

and here is the LRO view of the same area:

(http://onebigmonkey.com/itburns/hadley/lroap15.jpg)

That's pretty impressive I'm sure you'll agree. What is also impressive is that while the JAXA site claims the image was taken in the first couple of orbits after landing, it is incorrect - it was actually taken on Rev 27, just after the end of the first EVA. That first EVA's job was to set up the ALSEP, and that is exactly where you can see a trail heading.

There were, however, other Panoramic images taken in the early part of the mission, and here's one of them from orbit 16, AS15-9370, cropped and enhanced again:

(http://onebigmonkey.com/itburns/hadley/pana15cc.jpg)

This image was taken about 22 hours before the previous one, and before the first EVA. Not only is there no evidence of any disturbed ground, the LM shadow is considerably longer.

We also have another pan cam shot taken after the LM had returned to orbit, and while it is less clear than the other two, there is evidently more evidence of human activity - including around where the LRV was parked up before lift off:

(http://onebigmonkey.com/itburns/hadley/pana15ee.jpg)

The LM shadow has all but disappeared from this view.

So there we are - not only did Japan and India get a view of what Apollo astronauts were up to at Hadley, the CSM's panoramic camera did too :)
I think Jaxa did a disservice to itself by proclaiming the area that is highlighted is burn/jet effect from the decent engine. I did watch a video from the blunder, and I have to say the area is highly affected by the angle of the sun. more than effects of a decent engine.  BTW you still have great eyes, I still couldn't find the LM in the LRO strip.I would not have made a good photo analysis.  I looked for similar craters and still cvouldn't locate the LM and I know it is down there somewhere.
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: onebigmonkey on October 11, 2015, 05:27:51 AM
BTW you still have great eyes, I still couldn't find the LM in the LRO strip.I would not have made a good photo analysis.  I looked for similar craters and still cvouldn't locate the LM and I know it is down there somewhere.

Rocket science I can't do. Pattern recognition, on the other hand, is a thing I can do :D
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: bknight on October 11, 2015, 09:26:55 AM
BTW you still have great eyes, I still couldn't find the LM in the LRO strip.I would not have made a good photo analysis.  I looked for similar craters and still cvouldn't locate the LM and I know it is down there somewhere.

Rocket science I can't do. Pattern recognition, on the other hand, is a thing I can do :D
Obviously!
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: bknight on October 11, 2015, 11:58:05 AM
BTW you still have great eyes, I still couldn't find the LM in the LRO strip.I would not have made a good photo analysis.  I looked for similar craters and still cvouldn't locate the LM and I know it is down there somewhere.

Rocket science I can't do. Pattern recognition, on the other hand, is a thing I can do :D
Obviously!
obm: from your images of A15, how far away is the LM from Mt. Hadley and how far from the "elbow" of the rille?
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: onebigmonkey on October 12, 2015, 04:24:06 AM
BTW you still have great eyes, I still couldn't find the LM in the LRO strip.I would not have made a good photo analysis.  I looked for similar craters and still cvouldn't locate the LM and I know it is down there somewhere.

Rocket science I can't do. Pattern recognition, on the other hand, is a thing I can do :D
Obviously!
obm: from your images of A15, how far away is the LM from Mt. Hadley and how far from the "elbow" of the rille?


Well, not from my images but by using Google Earth's measuring tool while on the moon part of the software, it's roughly 3.8 km to Elbow and 10 km to the base of Hadley.
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: bknight on October 12, 2015, 07:27:21 AM
Thanks
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: onebigmonkey on October 17, 2015, 03:54:58 PM
OK so I put together a little page on this :)

http://onebigmonkey.com/apollo/pancam/pancam.html
Title: Re: Apollo 15: Hadley Rille from orbit
Post by: bknight on October 17, 2015, 04:20:26 PM
Great work, obm.