Word: soils
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Galileo's pioneering look at the lunar surface through a telescope in 1609: Unmanned spacecraft have crashed into the moon, orbited it, measured it, and photographed it from every conceivable angle, giving man his first view of the lunar far side. Ingenious soft-landing spacecraft have dug into its soil and even chemically analyzed it by remote control...
...Apollo 11 manned landing will begin returning scientific dividends as soon as Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin start to explore the lunar surface. Both are competent amateur geologists. They have had more than 120 hours of instruction from NASA geologists, and they have practiced collecting rock and soil samples in lunarlike terrain such as the Grand Canyon, California's Medicine Lake highlands, the Arizona meteorite crater, the arctic wastelands of Iceland, and Alaska's Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. Even their on-the-spot descriptions of the moon, to be transmitted instantaneously by radio to earth, should be of substantial value...
Beyond a doubt, however, the most important contribution of Apollo 11 to modern science will be the 100-odd lbs. of lunar rock and soil scheduled to be brought back by the astronauts. To safeguard this precious cargo, NASA has set up an elaborate system that stretches from the moon across space to Houston's $15.8 million Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL) and to universities and laboratories all over the world. Says LRL Curator Elbert King: "Scientifically, this will be worth more than any other material in history...
...which beats down directly on the moon's surface, unfiltered by atmosphere. Solar furnaces could be constructed, consisting of mirrors that focus the sun's fierce beams on a target. Using these, Zwicky suggests, man could work wonders with lunar rock. The furnaces could melt lunar gravel and soil, which could be cast into bricks for building shelters. They could also be used to heat moon rocks enough to release their locked-in water. Even the proverbial pig's squeal could be used. Water vapor steaming out of the heated rocks could drive power turbines before being condensed into drinking...
...designed with the help of a computer; or "pop" buildings that seem to revel in the chaotic interplay of roof lines, angles, windows, colors. Yet all the architects who rebel against Gropius' cool, functional logic paradoxically owe to him their method and ethic. He laid, in the hard soil of reason, the strong and deep foundations for them to build...