LRO - Lunar Orbiter misson

[Spanrz (Brett)]

Well, after watching the NASA TV of late with the Hubble repair mission, I just watched a vid replay of the LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) mission.

Some fantastic information going to come of this.

But now finally, to hopefully dispell any myths of "going to the Moon was a hoax" type stuff.
As there is a camera on board that will do a "google earth" of the moon.
It will have apparent visual resolution of 1 Metre.
This will put all skeptics at bay, shooting them down in flames.
To prove it, all they need is to see any of the lunar modules/vehicles along with possible tracks/footprints to 100% show, they did go to the moon.
I'm just hoping NASA come to the party and not smudge out any photo's of the landing sites.

Also one of the missions, is to fire 2 "missiles" or some form of projectiles into the moon, and do a "Deep Impact" visual on the matter ejected from the crater, to look for sources of water.
To actually watch this happen, through a telescope, would be phenomenal. But as always, us people down South will probably miss out again on such event.
I'm hoping a full moon for us will be on the cards, at the time of the this part of the mission.

I think LRO launches in August this year.. It's a 1 year mission, so get your scopes at the ready (if you haven't already). Maybe spot a rocket going to the Moon.

[DavidU (Dave)]

That sounds great ! How do you get NASA TV?

[Spanrz (Brett)]

Originally Posted by DavidU

That sounds great ! How do you get NASA TV?

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

[Chrissyo (Chris)]

This will put all skeptics at bay, shooting them down in flames.

It's a nice thought, but no, it won't. They've spent ~40 years claiming that all the NASA Apollo images were faked. They're not going to turn around and say "oops, we were wrong" with the release of more NASA images. They'll claim that these images are faked too (I've already seen some Apollo deniers say that they won't believe any LRO images of Apollo artifacts). And keep in mind that several lunar orbiters have already imaged some of the Apollo landing sites (11 and 15) and have been able to resolve the general disturbance of the lunar regolith from the LM. Apollo denyers hand wave these images away, so I don't see why they won't do the same with higher resolution images.

These people have been lying, hand waving and making stuff up for years now (many of them making an easy bit of money in the process). They're already utterly delusional (or shady) - they're not gonna give it up now.

[stephenb (Stephen)]

I am amazed an many of the younger work colleagues of mine who just do not believe we landed on the Moon. I was dumbfounded. It wasn't that they believed in a greater conspiracy, but because of their age and the world they live in (internet, digital manipulation, special effects etc.) they just do not think it happened.

I think there is a serious generation issue happening and I read other opinions that as the years move on, more and more people will grow up forgetting about Apollo altogether, or believing it was all staged or never happening at all. We need to keep Apollo alive and I understand that some Apollo deniers will never be swayed, but geez, won't it be great to see some images of the LM decent stage, rovers, rover tyre tracks, and other equipment!!! I am truly excited about this.

Here is another link: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/11jul_lroc.htm

[blindman]

After 40 years - again to the Moon? Come on ! Think.
Clear skies, Nev

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Originally Posted by blindman

After 40 years - again to the Moon? Come on ! Think.
Clear skies, Nev

Can you elaborate, Nev? Not sure what I'm supposed to be thinking about.

I did hear a report on RN's Science Show a month or so ago about a special speaker at the Perth Observatory. His topic was proving men did land on the moon, (or similar title) and he presented some very interesting arguments to put to non-believers. I wonder if any IIS members know of the speaker,, or attended the event?

Edit: (I am now thinking it was not Perth Observatory, but somewhere else in WA, I will try to look into it, I may have downloaded the podcast)

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Watching it live on NASA TV Problems with the weather at the moment. Anyway, LRO at T-4 minutes launch hold and they are rescheduling launch time for 4:32 PM (US EST) which is 7:32 AEST.

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Watching some great live video from the LRO as is goes into orbit, first stage separates at 0740am Melbourne time.

[iceman (Mike)]

Nice launch!