Apollo 17 Lunar Rover in LRO image?

[stephenb]

Yes I have too much time on my hands, but being such a windy weekend I thought I'd sit down and was some Apollo Docos and try to match up footage with the LRO Apollo site images.

Here is my first attempt.

We all know that the Apollo 17's Lunar Rover was positioned some distance away to capture the footage of the LM lifting off the Moon.

Image 1: The first image is a cropped version of the original image from NASA LRO site at: http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/369444main_lroc_apollo17_lrg.jpg

Image 2: Footage oustside the LM window approximately 15 seconds after liftoff, as the pitch program initiates. The LM decent stage and the LR are in view on the surface.

Image 3: Footage oustside the LM window approximately 30seconds after liftoff. The LM decent stage and the LR are still view on the surface. A distinct pattern of craters are visible.

Image 4: The same footage but the image rotated, and a "pattern" of craters marked.

Image 5: A repeat of Image 1 with the same pattern of craters from Image 4.

The smaller circled bump I believe is the location of Apollo 17's lunar rover
The larger circle possibly a scientific platform.
The arrow is pointing to the LM decent stage.
The Lunar Rover tracks also appear to be visible in the LRO image

[DavidU]

Steve, thats a lot of homework !Looks spot on from here.
When does LRO start imaging from terminal low orbit?

[sheeny]

Well done.

Al.

[stephenb]

[QUOTE=DavidU;479067]Steve, thats a lot of homework !Looks spot on from here.
When does LRO start imaging from terminal low orbit?[/QUOTE

Thanks David and Al.

David, I cannot find any information at present as to when the hi-res images will start. I would suspect they will come in the coming months.

A lot of the problem is the angle of the Sun in each view. With the LRO images the Sun is low in altitude, so the shadows of craters and depressions in the surface are prominent. With the lift off footage, the Sun is quite high in the sky and only craters with sharp defined edges and ramparts are visible. The attached image I have marked what I call "depressions" with red arrows. These are not very clear in the Liftoff footage as they don't have those defined edges.

[Lester]

Thanks Stephen, I enjoyed viewing those.

[Jen]

:thumbsup: nice work Steve :thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

Fiinally some definite images that confirm the descent stage and plenty of tracks. That is excellent.

[stephenb]

Please see http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?p=514796#post514796 for an updated high-resolution image released by NASA.

[FredSnerd]

Hey thats really interesting what you did here Stephen. Thanks for sharing