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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Wide Angle Camera image of Reiner Gamma Another view of Reiner Gamma swirls Mare Ingenii Swirls east of Firsov crater, from Apollo 10. Lunar swirls are enigmatic features found across the Moon's surface, which are characterized by having a high albedo, appearing optically immature (i.e. having the optical characteristics of a relatively young regolith), and (often ...
By one estimate, the solar wind has deposited more than 1 million tons of helium-3 (3 He) on the Moon's surface. [62] Materials on the Moon's surface contain helium-3 at concentrations estimated between 1.4 and 15 parts per billion (ppb) in sunlit areas, [1] [63] [64] and may contain concentrations as much as 50 ppb in permanently shadowed ...
It passed within 6,000 kilometres (3,200 nmi; 3,700 mi) of the Moon's surface, but did not achieve lunar orbit. [11] Luna 3 , launched on October 4, 1959, was the first robotic spacecraft to complete a circumlunar free return trajectory , still not a lunar orbit, but a figure-8 trajectory which swung around the far side of the Moon and returned ...
The near side of the Moon is the lunar hemisphere that always faces towards Earth, opposite to the far side. Only one side of the Moon is visible from Earth because the Moon rotates on its axis at the same rate that the Moon orbits the Earth—a situation known as tidal locking. The Moon is directly illuminated by the Sun, and the cyclically ...
First spacecraft to impact the lunar surface. [13] This made the Soviet Union the 1st country to impact the surface of the Moon. 12: Luna 3 (E-2A No.1) Luna 3: 4 October 1959: Luna: OKB-1: Flyby: Success Returned the first images of the far side of the Moon. [14] 13: Pioneer P-3. Able IVB. Pioneer P-3: 26 November 1959: Atlas-D Able: NASA ...
The Moon is the only extraterrestrial body for which we have samples with a known geologic context. A handful of lunar meteorites have been recognized on Earth, though their source craters on the Moon are unknown. A substantial portion of the lunar surface has not been explored, and a number of geological questions remain unanswered.
Debris found in the formation may have originated from deep beneath the original crust, and samples collected there could give insight into the geologic history of the Moon. [2] The petrology of the formation, based on data obtained on Apollo 14, indicates a history of impact and ejection possibly spanning over approximately 500 million years. [5]
The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M 3) is one of two instruments of NASA that was carried by India's first mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-1, launched October 22, 2008. It is an imaging spectrometer , and the team is led by Principal investigator Carle Pieters of Brown University , and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory .