Apollo 15 Preliminary Science Report NASA SP-289

546 Pages·2002·32.88 MB·English

NASA SP-289
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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS
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APOLLO 15 PRELIMINARY SCIENCE REPORT
View of layering and outcrops in the western wall of Hadley Rille.
NASA SP-289
Preliminctry Science Report
PREPARED BY
NASA MANNED SPACECRAFT CENTER
ScientainfidTc e chniIcnaflo rmatOiffiocne
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATI1O97N2
Washington,
D.C.
EDITORIAL BOARD
The material submitted for the "Apollo 15 Preliminary
Science Report" was reviewed by a NASA Editorial Review
Board consisting of the following members: Joseph P. Allen
(Chairman), Keith F. Anderson, Richard R. Baldwin, Roy
L. Cox, Helen N. Foley, Robert L. Giesecke, Richard H.
Koos, Robert Mercer, William Phinney, Floyd I. Rober­
C.
son, and Scott H. Simpkinson.
Fo! sale by the Superintendent of Documents,
U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number
Price $8.00
72-185106
Foreword
In richness of scientific return, the Apollo 15 voyage to the plains at Hadley compares
with voyages of Darwin's H.M.S. Beagle, and those of the Endeavour and Resolution. Just
as those epic ocean voyages set the stage for a revolution in the biological sciences and
exploration generally, so also the flight of Falcon and Endeavor did the same in planetary
and Earth sciences and will guide the course of future explorations.
The boundary achievements of Apollo 15 cannot now be established. As an author of
a following paper points out, the mission was not finished at splashdown in the Pacific,
nor later with painstaking analysis in scores of laboratories of the samples and cores
brought back, nor with careful study of the photographic imagery and instrument traces
returned home. For the distinctive fact is that the mission is not yet over. Data still flow
in daily from the isotope··powered station emplaced on the plain at Hadley, and from the
Moon-encircling scientific satellite left in orbit. This data flow is of exceptional value
because it now affords, for the first time, a triangulation of lunar events perceived by the
three physically separated scientific stations that man has left on the Moon.
This volume is the first, though assuredly not the final, effort to assemble
a
comprehensive accounting of the scientific knowledge so far acquired through this
remarkable mission.
Dr. James C. Fletcher
Administrator
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
December 8, 1971
v
Contents
Page
INTRODUCTION xi
A.J. Calia
1. MISSION DESCRIPTION 1-1
Richard R. Baldwin
2. SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC RESULTS 2-1
Joseph Allen
P.
3. PHOTOGRAPHIC SUMMARY 3-1
John W. Dietrich and Uel S. Clanton
4. CREW OBSERVATIONS 4-1
David R. Scott, Alfred M. Worden, and James B. Irwin
5. PRELIMINARY GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATION OF THE APOLLO 15 LAND- 5-1
lNG SITE
G.A. Swann, N.C. Bailey, R.M Batson, V.L. Freeman, M.H. Hait, J. W. Head,
H.E. Holt, K.A. Howard. J.B. Irwin, K.B. Larson, W.R. Muehlberger, V.S.
Reed, J.J. Rennilson, G.G. Schaber, D.R. Scott, L.T. Silver, R.L. Sutton,
G.E. Ulrich, H. G. Wilshire, and Wolfe
E. W. 6-1
6. PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OF LUNAR SAMPLES
The Lunar Sample Preliminary Examination Team
7. SOIL-MECHANICS EXPERIMENT 7-1
J.K. Mitchell, L.G. Bromwell, W.D. Carrier, III, N.C. Castes, W.N. Houston,
and R.F. Scott
8. PASSIVE SEISMIC EXPERIMENT 8-1
Gary Latham, Maurice Ewing, Frank Press, George Sutton, James
V.
Dorman, Yosio Nakamura, Nafi Toksoz, David Lammlein, and Fred
Duennebier
9. LUNAR-SURFACE MAGNETOMETER EXPERIMENT 9-1
P. Dyal; C. W. Parkin, and C.P. So nett
10. SOLAR-WIND SPECTROMETER EXPERIMENT 10-1
Douglas R. Clay, Bruce E. Goldstein, Marcia Neugebauer, and Conway W.
Snyder
vii
1 I. HEAT-FLOW EXPERIMENT 11-1
Marcus G. Langseth, Jr., Sydney P. Oark, Jr., John L. Chute, Jr., Stephen J.
Keihm, and Alfred E. Wechsler
12. SUPRA THERMAL ION DETECTOR EXPERIMENT (LUNAR-IONOSPHERE
DETECTOR) 12-1
H. Kent Hills, Jurg Meister, Richard R. Vondrak, and John W. Freeman,
Jr.
C
13. COLD CATHODE GAGE EXPERIMENT (LUNAR-ATMOSPHERE DE-
TECTOR) 13-1
F.S. Johnson, D.E. Evans, and J.M. Carroll
14. LASER RANGING RETROREFLECTOR 14-1
J.E. Faller, CO. Alley, P.L. Bender, D.C. Currie, R.H. Dicke, W.M. Kaula,
G.J.F. MacDonald, J.D. Mulholland, H.H. Plotkin, Silverberg, and D.T.
E.C.
Wilkinson
15. SOLAR-WIND COMPOSITION EXPERIMENT 15-1
Geiss, F. Buehler, H. Cerutti, and P. Eberhardt
J.
16. GAMMA-RAY SPECTROMETER EXPERIMENT 16-1
James R. Arnold, Laurence E. Peterson, Albert E. Metzger, and Jack I.
Trombka
17. X-RAY FLUORESCENCE EXPERIMENT 17-1
Adler, J. Trombka, J. Gerard, R. Schmadebeck, P. Lowman, H. Blodgett,
I.
L. Yin, Eller, R. Lamothe, P. Gorenstein, P. Bjorkholm, B. Harris, and H.
E.
Gursky
18. ALPHA-PARTICLE SPECTROMETER EXPERIMENT 18-1
Paul Gorenstein and P. Bjorkholm
19. LUNAR ORBITAL MASS SPECTROMETER EXPERIMENT 19-1
J.H.Hoffman, R.R. Hodges, and D.E. Evans
20. S-BAND TRANSPONDER EXPERIMENT 20-1
W.L. Sjogren, P. Gottlieb, P.M Muller, and W.R. Wollenhaupt
21. SUBSATELLITE MEASUREMENTS OF PLASMAS AND SOLARPARTI- 21-1
PARTICLES
K.A. Anderson, L.M. Chase, R.P.Lin, J.E. McCoy, and R.E. McGuire
22. THE PARTICLES AND FIELDS SUBSATELLITEMAGNETOMETER 22-1
EXPERIMENT
Paul Coleman, Jr., G. Schubert, T. Russell, and L.R. Sharp
J. C.
23. BISTATIC-RADAR INVESTIGATION 23-1
H. T. Howard and G.L. Tyler
24. APOLLO WINDOW METEOROID EXPERIMENT 24-1
Burton G. Cour-Palais, Robert E. Flaherty, and Milton L. Brown
viii
25. ORBITAL-SCIENCE PHOTOGRAPHY 25-1
PART A. VISUAL OBSERVATIONS FROM LUNAR ORBIT 25-1
Farouk El-Baz and Alfred M. Worden
PART B. PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ANALYSIS OF APOLLO 15 RECORDS 25-27
Frederick J. Doyle
PART C. PHOTOGRAMMETRY OF APOLLO 15 PHOTOGRAPHY 25-36
Sherman S.C. Wu, Francis J. Schafer, Raymond Jordan, Gary M. Nakata,
and James L. Derick
PART D. APOLLO 15 LASER ALTIMETER 25-48
F. I. Roberson and Kaula
W.M
PART E. SURFACE DISTURBANCES AT THE APOLLO 15 LANDING
SITE 25-50
N. W. Hinners and Farouk El-Baz
PART F. REGIONAL GEOLOGY OF HADLEY RILLE 25-53
Keith A. Howard and James W. Head
PART G. LINEAMENTS THAT ARE ARTIFACTS OF LIGHTING 25-58
Keith A. Howard and Bradley R. Larsen
PART H. SKETCH MAP OF THE REGION AROUND CANDIDATE
LITTROW APOLLO LANDING SITES 25-63
M.H. Carr
PART I. THE CINDER FIELD OF THE TAURUS MOUNTAINS 25-66
Farouk El-Baz
PART J. PRELIMINARY GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE REGION AROUND
THE CANDIDATE PROCLUS APOLLO LANDING SITE 25-72
Don E. Wilhelms
PART K. GEOLOGIC SKETCH MAP OF THE CANDIDATE PROCLUS
APOLLO LANDING SITE 25-76
Baerbel Koesters Lucchitta
PART L. SELECTED VOLCANIC FEATURES 25-81
Mareta N. West
PART M. MARE IMBRIUM LAVA FLOWS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP
TO COLOR BOUNDARIES 25-83
Ewen A. Whitaker
PART N. AN UNUSUAL MARE FEATURE 25-84
Ewen A. Whitaker
PART REGIONAL VARIATIONS IN THE MAGNITUDE OF HEILIGEN·
SCHEIN AND CAUSAL CONNECTIONS 25-86
0.
Robert L. Wildey
ix