Word: lunar
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...explosive tape to knock the panel off a section of the service module called SIM (for scientific instrument module). An innovation on Apollo 15, SIM is literally a high-flying laboratory: it contains eight different scientific instruments, including a tiny (78.5 Ibs.) subsatellite, two spectrometers and two special lunar mapping cameras...
Once the spacecraft was inserted into lunar orbit, the taciturn threesome began to perk up. Gazing at the bleak moonscape, Scott compared it to a great desert. "This is absolutely mind-boggling," he said. The scenery was apparently even more mind-boggling after the spacecraft descended to a lower orbit of only ten by 67 miles. Crossing over the towering Apennines, Scott said: "Why, it's just unreal ... the mountains jut out of the 'ocean.' They appear smooth and rounded. There aren't any jagged peaks that...
...thus more about the mysterious universe. Loved, feared, worshiped, the moon has figured in the mythology of most ancient people and has awed man since the beginning of human experience. The Greeks, who personified the moon in the form of the goddess Selene, were the first to study the lunar disk scientifically. They realized that their goddess was not luminous herself but shone only in the reflected light of the sun. They determined that the moon had mountains and valleys and that it always kept the same face turned toward earth. By the 3rd century B.C., the Greek philosopher Aristarchus...
...another unexpected finding was the strength of the moon's magnetic field; pre-Apollo scientists were sure that there was no significant lunar magnetic field. But there is, though its strength is puny compared with earth's. Does that mean that the moon once had a molten iron core? Perhaps. Urey offers an alternate explanation. He maintains that the moon picked up its magnetism early in its history while it was closer to earth. And the arguments...
Even before the first Apollo flight, lunar scientists had made a startling discovery. They found that the unmanned lunar orbiters were being thrown unexpectedly off course as they passed over certain lunar seas. Careful calculation showed that this extra gravitational tug was apparently due to concentrations of denser material under the moon's surface. These "mascons," as they were dubbed, still defy explanation, although theories abound: one says that they are heavy material that crystallized early in the moon's history; another claims they are the compacted residue of meteors. To complicate matters, careful tracking of the Apollo...