Word: meteorically
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Perhaps the biggest surprise of all came from the seismometers left be- hind on the moon by Apollo 12 and 14 astronauts. The sensitive instruments have registered moonquakes every month when moon and earth come closest together, detected meteor impacts and shown that the moon's interior is in. deed unique: it "rings like a bell" when hit by a meteor. In contrast, the earth barely vibrates when it is struck. To Seismologist Gary Latham, the moon's resonance means that the upper 60 miles of the moon are composed of fragmented and jumbled rock. In addition, ) Apollo instruments have...
Tektites, those mysterious glassy spheroids seemingly strewn across Asia and Australia from space, were also once thought to be splash droplets from some very large meteor hitting the moon. Now, because no lunar material resembles tektite glass in composition, most scientists agree that the tektites do not have a lunar origin. Instead, Frondel said. "It looks more and more that they may be of terrestrial origin." However, no definite theory such as the splash droplet theory for the glass beads on the moon, has been developed to explain the tektites' origin or formation...
...could designers anticipate all the other hazards that computers might encounter in distant space-a burst of gamma radiation, the impact of a tiny meteor, an unexpected power loss. Even mission control would be powerless in such a crisis. If trouble occurred near Neptune, for example, radioed data describing the problem would take four hours to reach the earth. By that time, the moment for a crucial maneuver might well have passed, and the entire mission could be jeopardized...
Footprint Caper. During their second moon walk, Lovell and Haise will try to climb 250 ft. or more to the lip of Cone Crater, where they may find very ancient debris from the huge meteor impact that created the Sea of Rains some 300 miles away. Their most unusual exercise will probably be Haise's "footprint caper," during which he will plant his boot in a pile of soil and photograph the imprint. Purpose: to study the clinging power of moon dust...
...original Lost City meteorite probably weighed several hundred pounds, and it created a bright "fireball" trail that was seen by thousands of prairie dwellers before it exploded. A farmer named Phillip Halpain discovered a 9-ounce fragment of the meteor while he was searching for a lost calf. Earlier, a member of the Smithsonian's search party discovered a 21 pound chunk lying on a dirt road...