GLXP Forum

True!  But Oceanus Procellarum is a big place, more than 1000 km across.  It's a big landing region, not a specific location.  So where in this vast area would be preferred as a landing site?  If it's possible to target within a few km of a specific point, maybe one of the precisely known historic landers would be good (that limits it to Apollo 12/Surveyor 3 or Surveyor 1, or maybe the Apollo 13 or 14 SIVB impacts or Ranger 7 impact).  Otherwise I would suggest points chosen to be near interesting topography.  That might include Marius Hills or the Aristarchus Plateau, or the hills west of Copernicus or north of Cavalerius.  Landing in plains near those places would give interesting horizon features.

One other issue... Oceanus Procellarum is only flat in low resolution Earth-based views.  At the scale of a rocket sled it's rough.  Check out this image near Surveyor 1:


http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar … 184_h1.jpg

Phil

Last edited by Phil Stooke (2009-10-26 13:04:29)

That's a worthy goal, no doubt about it.  The big problem is that we don't know where they are with much accuracy.  The uncertainty in all Luna locations up to and including Luna 16 is about 30 km (1 degree).  If you really want to see a Luna your best bets are Luna 20, Luna 21 or Luna 24, where the uncertainties are only a few km.

Phil

Beautiful new image of the Apollo 17 landing site at:

http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/?archives … -Site.html

At the bottom of that page is a link to a full image that you can 'zoom' into.  Images like these will be valuable for teams trying for the heritage prize.  Also check out Surveyor 1:

http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/index.php … 09/30.html

and the impact crater produced by the Apollo 14 upper stage rocket:

http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/index.php … 10/08.html

(hmmm... will GLXP missions also produce upper stage impacts?  Could a mission land near its own upper stage impact crater tio give it something exciting to look at?)


Phil

Phil Stooke wrote:

will GLXP missions also produce upper stage impacts?  Could a mission land near its own upper stage impact crater tio give it something exciting to look at?

We'll create a descent stage impact.  Since that stage will hit first, perhaps it will be "heritage" hardware when we arrive, lol.

http://lpod.wikispaces.com/November+7%2C+2009

This little dark spot appears to be the descent rocket of Surveyor 3 - dropped off the descending spacecraft as its little landing thrusters took over for the final approach to the surface.  No Surveyor imaged its descent rocket, and the Apollo 12 crew didn't see this one.  That might make a good imaging target - several teams have talked about landing near Apollo 12/Surveyor 3.  Any of these descent rockets at the Surveyor sites would be interesting to see.  The one at Surveyor 4 might reveal the fate of that spacecraft - it failed at the moment of detachment.  Did the rocket fail to separate?  Did it drop off but the vernier thrusters didn't all ignite properly?  A GLXP rover might be able to inspect it and reveal the truth at last.  CSI Sinus Medii...

Phil

http://wms.lroc.asu.edu/lroc_browse/view/M109937747

This oblique view across the surface at Cabeus (LCROSS impact site near the south pole) shows something very significant for people planning a lunar landing.  It's a highland site, not one of the nice smooth mare areas... but actually mare sites are only smooth in low resolution views - seen up close they have lots of small craters.  So the significant thing here would apply to a mare site as well.  It is that slopes ave very common on the Moon.  It's not easy to avoid sloping areas unless you are using direct, live control during descent, or active hazard avoidance systems.  So it might be better to plan to survive a landing on a slope.  Surveyors 3 and 5 both survived difficult landings on sloping crater walls.  Will your GLXP lander do the same?  How can we do that?  Wide-splayed legs and a low center of gravity would be one way.  A self-righting mechanism like Luna 9 or Mars Pathfinder would be another way.  But high center of gravity, unstable designs - which have appeared in some visualizations for landers - are a potential problem.  So look at this landscape - zoom rioght in - and ask if you can land safely on one of its slopes.

Phil