Lunar Science: a Post-Apollo View. Scientific Results and Insights from the Lunar Samples

384 Pages·1975·9.43 MB·English

by  Stuart Ross Taylor (Auth.)

Frontispiece: Astronaut Harrison H. (Jack) Schmitt collecting samples from a boulder at
Station 6 (base of the North Massif) on the north side of the Taurus-Littrow Valley, during
the Apollo 17 mission. The front portion of the Lunar Roving Vehicle is visible at the left.
The directional antenna (umbrella shape) is pointed toward Earth. (NASA Photo.)
Lunar Science:
A Po st-Apollo View
Scientific Results and Insights
from the Lunar Samples
STUART ROSS TAYLOR
Lunar Science Institute
Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
and
Research School of Earth Sciences
Australian National University
Canberra, Australia
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Copyright © 1975, Pergamon Press Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Taylor, Stuart Ross, 1925-
Lunar science: a post-Apollo view.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Moon. I. Title.
QB592.T38 1975 559.9Ί 74-17227
ISBN 0-08-018274-7
ISBN 0-08-018273-9 (pbk.)
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without prior permission of Pergamon Press Inc.
Cover picture: Fine detail visible on the lunar surface in this near terminator photo taken
during the Apollo 16 mission. View looking south. East is to the left. The large crater with a
central peak is Arzachel (97 km diameter) and the larger one in front of it is Alphonsus
(116 km diameter). The smooth area to the right (west) is part of Mare Nubium. (NASA.)
Back cover: Lick Observatory photo of 4 day old moon.
Printed in the United States of America
To
Noël
Susanna, Judith and Helen
Preface
The Apollo lunar landings represent one of the great triumphs of human
imagination and ingenuity. Throughout recorded history the moon has
been an object of admiration, longing, and interest. Man long ago realized
the connection of the moon with the tides, and in many mystical and
religious connotations the moon has had a profound effect on human
affairs [1]. The cycle of the lunar month, the disappearance and rebirth of
the moon, and the changing phases have been intimately associated with
folklore and human intellectual development since our primitive
beginnings [2]. We are children of the earth, with a beautiful silver ball,
tantalizingly remote, to gaze at and wish for [3].
Now suddenly we have set our feet on the lunar surface and collected
the samples; hurriedly at first, in awe of the harsh environment and
unknown terrors [4], and then with growing confidence in our ability to
survive the vacuum and the high temperatures, in extended missions,
complete with vehicles. We have nearly 400 kilograms of rocks, a
veritable feast of samples considering that much significant information
may be gained from a few milligrams.
Scientists have examined and analyzed the rocks and soils with every
modern and sophisticated technique and have published the results in
more than 30,000 pages of scientific literature. New and often unexpected
data have appeared to confound old hypotheses. The resulting clarifica-
tion of ideas and problems from the limited number of missions provides
fresh support for old adages about the value of small amounts of data in
constraining speculation. We now have a reasonably coherent picture of
the history of events and processes occurring on the moon for more than
xi
xii Preface
four billion years, a monument indeed to the ability of Homo sapiens to
reconstruct the history of past events. Even in the more dimly understood
events surrounding the formation of the moon and the earth, we have
many more constraints to apply to the theories and a growing confidence
that we have opened a new window to the early history of the solar
system.
Much of this knowledge, less than four years old, is not widely known
or available to those outside the lunar investigation teams. A mass of data
and the formidable jargon of science, often as impenetrable and baffling
as a jungle thicket, surround the precious samples. Yet the observations
tell an elegant story.
The purpose of this book is to attempt to recount this story and to
explain the scientific results and discoveries of the manned lunar missions
as they are understood at present. Discussions with many colleagues have
emphasized the need for such a work, although the formidable nature of
the task is apparent. In an earlier book [5], a summary was given of the
advances in knowledge resulting from the first manned landing of Apollo
11 in the Sea of Tranquillity. Now the landing of Apollo 17 (December,
1972) in the Taurus-Littrow valley has marked the close of the first phase
of manned lunar landings. Much is known about the lunar samples, and it
is appropriate to review and summarize the scientific findings of the
Apollo Project. To those readers who may judge this attempt to be
premature, I offer the opinions of Poincaré, quoted at the beginning of
chapter 7.
The previous work gave detailed descriptions of the mineralogy and
chemistry of the Apollo 11 samples. It was possible to provide a general
interpretation of the data, which in broad outline has changed surprisingly
little with subsequent missions. In this book there is less emphasis on
sample description and data. The vast amounts of data now available need
an independent synthesis. Rather I have stressed the interpretative
aspects of the study, with the aim of providing a coherent story of the
evolution of the moon and its origin so far as we can judge it at present.
The present work is thus a sequel to Moon Rocks and Minerals, not a
revised edition.
Such a task calls for much selection and evaluation. A vast body of data
is already available, but a mere catalogue or data dump must be avoided.
At the same time, a condensation of the literature without evaluation is
not of much use. It is no service to the reader merely to record the
existence of a controversy on a particular topic. The intent is to provide
an understanding of the current state of knowledge about the moon as
revealed by the lunar samples and the Apollo missions. Such a framework
Preface xüi
and guide will hopefully enable and encourage interested people to
proceed to the more detailed lunar literature.
With such a broad canvas, the selection and evaluation of the data
necessarily reflect the knowledge, interest, and bias of the author. The
approach recalls that of the historian as much as the scientist. As
Bertrand Russell has remarked, "a book should be held together by its
point of view," [6] and I make no apology for the selection or the
interpretations made. These appear to me to be the most reasonable at
this date and are offered in the spirit of scientific progress as elucidated by
Karl Popper [7]. Many specialists may be chagrined to find that their work
is dealt with only briefly or even perhaps omitted from this account. The
effort to reduce 30,000 pages of published literature into a book involves a
reduction by two orders of magnitude. Thus, each page here represents
100 in the original literature, so that many observations have had to be
fitted into less space than that occupied by the typical abstract of a paper.
Many questions are posed and discussed throughout the book. The
moon (and Mars, as well) has provided many scientific surprises, salutary
in reminding us both of the dangers of extrapolating from terrestrial
experience and of the empirical and observational basis for science. The
broad scope of the work has led me to many unfamiliar fields. I have been
sustained in this endeavor both by the many workers [8] who have
enlightened me about their specialities and by the observation that those
previous writers who took a broad overview of lunar problems seem to
have been more often correct than those who took a more circumscribed
view [9].
The question of literature citation has proved difficult owing to the bulk
of published material. It is impractical in this work to produce a full-scale
bibliography, which would amount, in conventional referencing style, to
well over 100 printed pages. Fortunately the information is contained at
present in a relatively few major sources.
Throughout the text, I have attempted to list references to all sources of
information, statements of fact, opinion, and interpretation other than my
own, so that the interested reader can pursue questions in the original
literature. Rather than break up the text with names and dates, I have
adopted the method commonly used by historians and some scientific
journals of referencing by number. The numbered references are grouped
at the end of each chapter. To conserve space, an abbreviated but adequate
referencing style is employed [10].
Because of the predilection of the investigators to produce multi-author
papers [11], it is not feasible to cite full bibliographic details. Except for
two-author papers, first authors only are listed. I have tried in general to
xiv Preface
reference the latest relevant and informative paper in the field. This
procedure has the advantage of reducing much repetitive referencing
since citations of earlier works will be found in the later papers. It is a
peculiarity of the lunar literature that references to ideas or data by an
author may appear in several places, due to the widespread use of
extended abstracts. Thus, much vital information about Apollo 17 first
appeared in this form in the Transactions of the American Geophysical
Union (EOS, Vol. 54, 580-622). Selection of references therefore be-
comes an important consideration.
Nearly all the work is of high quality, and citations to many excellent
papers have had to be omitted because of space. Most of these can be
found by consulting reference lists in the cited papers or the Proceedings
of the Lunar Science Conferences. I have tried to avoid references to
internal agency reports and other "gray" literature, not always success-
fully. Publication deadlines have prevented formal referencing to the
Fifth Lunar Science Conference Proceedings (1974), although the data and
ideas discussed at that meeting (March, 1974) have been incorporated.
References to the volume of extended abstracts (Lunar Science V, 1974)
for that meeting are included. The literature coverage extends to April,
1974.
Stuart Ross Taylor
Houston, Texas
April, 1974
REFERENCES AND NOTES
1. Among many curious correlations of lunar phases with biological rhythms, it may be
noted that the average duration of human pregnancy is 266 days, close to the length of
nine lunar synodical months* (265.8 days) and that the average duration of the human
menstrual cycle is 29.5 days, compared with the average lunar synodical month of 29.53
days. Menaker, W., and Menaker, A. (1959) Lunar periodicity in human reproduction,
Amer. Jour. Obstetrics Gynecology. 77:905, and Osley, M., et al. (1973) Ibid., 117:413.
More sinister correlations, indicating a connection between lunar cycles and psychiat-
ric disturbances (recalling the ancient association of the moon and lunacy) are described
by Lieber, A. L., and Sherin, C. R. (1972) Amer. Jour. Psychiatry. 129: 69.
2. See, for example, Bedini, S. Α., et al. (1973) Moon, Abrams, N.Y.
*A lunar synodical month, or lunation, is the time between successive new moons and is
29 days, 12 hours, and 44 minutes. This contrasts with the sidereal month, which is the
average period of revolution of the moon around the earth, as determined by using a fixed
star as reference point. The length of a sidereal month is 27 days, 7 hours, and 43 minutes.
Preface xv
3. For a discussion on the political aspects of the manned landings, see Logsdon, J. M. (1970)
The Decision to go to the Moon : Project Apollo and the National Interest, MIT Press,
Cambridge.
4. For example, an often discussed possibility was that the highly reduced samples might
ignite in the pure oxygen atmosphere of the landing module.
5. Levinson, Α. Α., and Taylor, S. R. (1971) Moon Rocks and Minerals, Pergamon Press,
Elmsford, N.Y.
6. Russell, Bertrand (1967) Autobiography 1914-1944, Atlantic Monthly Press, pp. 340-341.
7. Popper, K. (1968) Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge,
Harper & Row, N.Y.
8. See Acknowledgments.
9. The rationale for this statement will become apparent later in the book. The classic
example is the correct interpretation of many lunar surface features by R. B. Baldwin
(1949) in The Face of the Moon, University of Chicago Press.
10. See Appendix I.
11. One paper has 30 authors (NASA SP 315, p. 6-1, 1973), and there are many with ten or
more. Authors should recall the adage that no committee ever wrote a symphony.
The Author
Stuart Ross Taylor Ph.D. (Indiana University) is a Professorial Fellow at
the Research School of Earth Sciences, the Australian National Univer-
sity, Canberra. His research interests have been in trace element
geochemistry, analytical chemistry, tektites, continental composition and
evolution, island arc volcanic rocks, and lunar studies.
Dr. Taylor was a member of the Lunar Sample Preliminary Examination
Team (LSPET) for Apollo 11 and 12 missions and carried out the first
chemical analysis of a returned lunar sample. He is a Principal Investigator
for the lunar sample program. His research publications total over 100
papers and books. He has held visiting posts at the University of
California, San Diego, at the Max Planck Institut für Chemie, Mainz and at
The Lunar Science Institute, Houston, Texas. He is an Associate Editor of
the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.