Yes if anyone actually could soft land a probe on the moon, it would need a guidance system, either from Earth or self contained. Was guidance self contained or were they guided to a soft landing via instructions from Earth?
"Yes". Surveyor had an autonomous terminal guidance system, but its parameters were updated from Earth to improve their accuracy. It would have landed anyway without such updates, but chances of a successful landing were improved with them.
Apollo also received updates from Earth, but in addition to a digital computer - which Surveyor did not have - Apollo also had the ultimate terminal guidance system - two experienced pilots, which allowed them to avoid dangerous obstacles not visible from earlier observations.
What I need to be convinced, this is a great question and to be fair, an answer.
A probe that is independent of all government, that can transmit high resolution pictures of landing site.
Or a Earth based telescope powerful enough to acquire a high resolution image of landing site
I had asked for a
reasonable answer. The former is a very high cost mission, and would almost certainly involve use of government tracking, telemetry, and command assets even if privately mounted. The second doesn't exist. An answer like this lets you pretend to be reasonable without having to deal with the realization of your standard, not for years at any rate. I intend to adjust how much effort I put into my replies accordingly.
I still await an answer to my question last asked
post 501:
You might consider that generations of scientists and engineers have validated Apollo's reality through actually using the techniques, technology, and scientific results from that program. So, any hoax you propose would have to count on not only fooling the scientists and engineers of the time, but also of generations yet to come - and would have to anticipate discoveries and technical advances of the future.
What kind of hoax do you think could do that, given that it's now been almost half a century since the first manned lunar landing?