[meteorite-list] NPA 07-17-1969 Apollo May Unlock Mysteries, Elbert King Quote

From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Nov 21 10:33:05 2004
Message-ID: <BAY4-F736734F4AA6C9D04BFC5CB3C50_at_phx.gbl>

Paper: Holland Evening Sentinel
City: Holland, Michigan
Date: Thursday, July 17, 1969
Page: 15

Apollo May Unlock Space Mysteries

     SPACE CENTER, Houston (UPI) - Apollo 11 is carrying what scientists
think may be the keys that will unlock the mysteries of the solar system.
     The spaceships' primary mission is to land men on the moon, pick up
samples of the lunar surface, and set out experiments that will work after
the men leave for earth.
     Those experiments and the rock and dirt samples brought to earth may
tell how the moon and the earth was formed. They could provide information
about whether the universe is expanding, what causes earthquakes and what
the sun is made of.
     As astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. and Michael
Collins sped toward the moon, their main chores were a maneuver to line them
up more accurately on their course and 15 minutes of television at 7:32 p.m.
EDT from about 150,000 miles out.
     While the romance of the first manned landing on the moon captured the
imagination of most people, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins know the
scientific benefits of their flight are not to be overlooked.
     "Probably the most significant scientific piece of data that we can
bring back is some lunar material," said scientist-astronaut Don L. Lind
prior to the flight.
     The astronauts plan to bring back more than 100 pounds of rocks and
dirt for scientists to study.
     Study of the moon likely will be similar to geological study of the
earth, said John W. "Jack" Small, chief of the space agency's lunar surface
projects office.
     "By studying the earth, you can get at the processes that formed the
earth," he said. "In studying the moon, you do the same thing."
     Dr. Elbert A. King of the Lunar and Earth Sciences Division of the
space agency, said recently that density of the moon was different from the
earth, leading to speculation it may have formed somewhere else in the
galaxy and was "captured" by the earth's gravity.
     Or, he said, perhaps it was cast off from the earth after the earth was
almost formed. Another possibility is that it formed separately from the
earth but always have been nearby.
     "Those things are still a subject of speculation and probably won't be
solved at least until we see some direct samples from the lunar surface," he
said.
     Among the experiments the astronauts are carrying toward the moon is a
seismometer one scientists says is sensitive enough to detect the impact of
a meteorite the size of a garden pea if it hits within a half a mile.
     "The objective is simply to measure the seismic activity on the lunar
surface," said Dr. Garry Latham of the Lamont Geological Observatory.
     "We expert two sources of seismic activity: moonquakes, which have
their counterpart in the familiar earthquake...and meteoroid impact.
     Latham said earth studies with seismographs have "been the most
successful in establishing the internal structure of the earth and we expect
them to enjoy similar success in the study of the moon."
     Another scientific package is a target for laser beams from earth. It
will reflect them back over exactly the same course they arrived. Scientists
hope to use this device to measure the distance between the earth and moon
as accurately as to within six inches.
     "You know, the moon wobbles, and by measuring very accurately those
wobbles, we can tell things about its moment of inertia and tell how the
mass is distributed inside the moon," Lind said.
     Small said the measurements also could help predict and explain the
moon's effect on earth's ocean tides.
     "We will be able to study the wobble of the earth's axis...which has
been ill understood but recently has been thought to be associated with the
occurrence of major earthquakes," said Dr. C. O. Allen of the University of
Maryland, one of the men who designed the experiment.
     Another experiment will examine the composition of the "solar wind" -
particles of matter thrown off by the sun.
     Dr. Johannes Geiss of the University of Berne, Switzerland, says the
results of this experiment should help determine exactly what the solar wind
is and provide more knowledge about the makeup of the universe.
     The "solar wind" experiment looks like a piece of aluminum foil and the
astronauts place it on the moon so it is directly in the rays of the sun.
     "By the time the crew will retrieve the foil, about one billionth of an
ounce of solar material should have been collected," Geiss said.
     The foil will be returned to earth aboard Apollo 11 and Geiss plans to
analyze it in Switzerland.
     "The general aim of these experiments will be in contributing to
questions of the origin of the earth and its atmosphere," Geiss said.

(end)
Received on Sun 21 Nov 2004 10:32:09 AM PST