Ep. 114: The Moon, Part 2 - Exploration of the Moon

Surveyor Lander. Image credit: NASA

Let's continue on our journey to the Moon. Last week we talked about the physical characteristics of the Moon, its appearance in the sky and how it interacts with the Earth. This week we're going to take a look at how scientists have expanded our understanding of the Moon. From ancient astronomers using nothing more than their eyes and the first telescope observations of Galileo to the exploration by robotic spacecraft. And of course, the first tentative steps by the human explorers of the Apollo program.

Ep. 114: The Moon, Part 2 - Exploration of the Moon

Before we went…

• Aristotle, Galileo and the Moon — Galileo Project
• Lunar mare – Absolute Astronomy
• Lunar Basalt – Wiki
• Franz von Paula Gruithuisen — Internet Encyclopedia of Science
• Finding craters on Earth with Google Earth — Google Earth Blog
• Nomenclature of Lunar craters – NASA

Early Missions to the Moon

• NASA's timeline of lunar missions
• Russian Luna 1 ( 1959 flyby), Luna 2 (1959 impact), Luna 3 (1959 probe)
• US Pioneer 4 (1959 flyby)
• Ranger missions (1961-1965)
• Huygens probe to Saturn's moon Titan
• Surveyor missions (1966-1968)

Apollo

• Apollo missions overview (1968-1972)
• Book:  A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin
• Movie:  From the Earth to the Moon
• Movie:  Apollo 13
• Movie:  In the Shadow of the Moon
• Movie:  When We Left Earth

Subsequent robotic Moon exploration

• Hitan (1990)
• Clementine (1994)
• Clementine Color Mosaics of the Moon
• Lunar Prospector (1998)
• Smart-1 (2003)
• The Magic of Ion Engines — ESA
• Kaguya (SELENE) 2007-present
• JAXA's Kaguya site, includes Hi-def movies of the moon
• Chang'e 1 2007- present
• More on Chang'e 1 from the Planetary Society

1. Sticks Says:
   November 17th, 2008 at 12:10 pm

   The podcast seems to have got corrupted

2. Pete Brownlow Says:
   November 17th, 2008 at 12:18 pm

   Just wanted to congratulate you on your great podcast and website. Since first listening to the show over a year ago I've been listening avidly ever since and am now about to take the plunge and buy my first telescope. Keep up the great work, I love the two shows a week format as well! Cheers.

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