Publications

The metric and panoramic cameras aboard the Apollo 16 spacecraft provided photographs on which photogrammetric techniques may be used to obtain precise measurements of horizontal distances and elevations. These measurements of horizontal distances and elevations. These measurements may in turn be used to obtain slope-frequency distributions of lunar surfaces at various slope lengths and...

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...

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...

Heiligenschein is the upsurge in reflected brightness as zero-phase angle is approached. For the first time, an effort has been made to investigate the diagnostic value of the heiligenschein photometric magnitude on a statistically significant scale. This investigation was performed by using the vertical photography of the Apollo 16 metric camera. The brightness surge of reflected light...

Orbital and surface photography collected during the Apollo 16 mission can be used to calibrate existing Earth-based, high-resolution radar maps of the lunar surface. The absence of any theoretical treatment of the radar backscatter from irregular rocks has prevented the assignment of radar-echo cross sections to specific size distributions of rocks. This gap will now be filled with the...

The Apollo 15 and 16 metric and panoramic cameras have provided photographs for accurate topographic portrayal of the lunar surface using photogrammetric methods. In turn, quantitative morphologic analyses of topographic results are invaluable aids in the interpretation of the geologic processes.

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...

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...

No abstract available.

Morphometric analysis of lunar craters (ref. 29-75) complements the more traditional photointerpretive study of crater morphology. These two indirect approaches to the scientific investigation of lunar craters continue to be productive because the preferred alternative method, direct field examination of specific large craters, is not being undertaken in the current series of manned...

Geologic units of the Nectaris Basin rim have been interpreted as partly impact and partly volcanic in origin (refs. 29-4, 29-21, 29-35, 29-38, and 29-39). An exclusively volcanic origin was proposed for the material in the vicinity of the Apollo 16 landing site, slightly northwest of the Nectaris Basin (ref. 29-36). In view of the dominance of breccia and the paucity of volcanic...

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...