Publications

Preliminary examination of Apollo 15 orbital photographs indicates a large number of volcanic features. One area of exceptionally interesting volcanic activity is depicted in figure 25-74. Located approximately at latitude 25° S and longitude 123° E on the lunar far side, this region also is covered by panoramic camera photographs AS15-9954, 9956, 9958, and 9960 and by stereoscopically...

A panoramic camera frame (fig. 25-69) was used as the base for a geologic sketch map (fig. 25-70) of an area near Proclus Crater. The map was prepared to investigate the usefulness of the Apollo 15 panoramic camera photography in large-scale geologic mapping and to assess the geologic value of this area as a potential Apollo landing site. The area is being considered as a landing site...

The Proclus Crater region was mapped to test the value, for photogeologic mapping purposes, of Apollo 15 metric photographs and to estimate the scientific value of the area as a potential landing site. A metric photographic frame (fig. 25-67) serves as a base for a map of the region around the Proclus Crater (fig. 25-68), and adjacent frames were overlapped with the base frame to provide...

The photograph in figure 25-59 and the corresponding map (fig. 25-60) show the geology of part of the lunar surface just east of the Littrow rilles at the eastern edge of Mare Serenitatis. The most striking feature of the region is the extremely low albedo of the area mapped as Eld in the western half of the map. The low albedo is believed to be caused by a thin layer of pyroclastic...

Study of the sinuous Hadley Rille (fig. 25-45) was a primary goal of the Apollo 15 mission. Local geology of the rille near the landing site is described in section 5 of this report. Preliminary study of orbital photography from Hasselblad, metric, and panoramic cameras makes possible a description of some regional relationships of the rille. Considerable use is also made of a...

Mapping of large areas of the Moon by photogrammetric methods was not seriously considered until the Apollo 15 mission. In this mission, a mapping camera system and a 61-cm optical-bar high-resolution panoramic camera, as well as a laser altimeter, were used. The mapping camera system comprises a 7.6-cm metric terrain camera and a 7.6-cm stellar camera mounted in a fixed angular...

The three cameras—stellar, mapping, and panoramic—together with the laser altimeter, all included in the scientific instrument module (SIM) bay, represent an integrated photogrammatric system with extraordinary potential for extending knowledge of the lunar figure, surface configuration, and geological structure.

Many Apollo 15 orbital photographs, particularly those taken at low Sun-elevation angles, reveal grid patterns of lineaments. In some circumstances, the grid pattern is present in areas where structural control seems unlikely. For example, in an oblique view (fig. 25-52), the ejecta blankets of two fresh impact craters seem to have two intersecting sets of lineaments. Because previous...

Dr Lucchitta describes the geology of the Apollo 17 landing site in the Taurus-Littrow region of the Moon.

The purpose of the infrared (IR) and radar study of the Apollo data is to establish lunar surface conditions in the vicinity of the orbital tracks of the Apollo command modules during the J-series missions. Correlations and comparisons between the Earth-based radar observations, IR observations, and other data will be plotted on photomaps produced from the mapping and panoramic cameras...

Apollo 16 metric photographs taken at low to high Sun angles (from approximately 7° to 40°) provide the first stereographic coverage of the distinctive landforms collectively referred to as "Imbrium sculpture" (refs. 29-40 and 29-41). The sculpture consists of a series of nearly linear ridges and troughs extending radially outward for more than 1000 km from the rim of the Imbrium Basin...

Low-relief mare features such as ridges and arches are best studied by using stereoscopic photographs taken at low Sun angles. Apollo 16 metric camera photography of the southern Oceanus Procellarum east of Letronne Crater reveals a diversity of subtle features (fig. 29-125) and adds significantly to an understanding of the forms of mare ridges and arches their relative ages, and their...