Glover and Koch saw the Earth emerge from behind the moon<\/a>, for a while all they could say was \u201cOh my gosh!\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cI guess I should be trying to describe it, but I mean, good grief,\u201d Glover\u2019s tablet recorded him saying.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I tried, but it\u2019s impossible,\u201d Koch agreed. \u201cYou might be able to fly a spaceship and talk, but if you can see that and talk, you just ain\u2019t right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Astronauts spotted tiny impacts on the moon<\/h2>\n Another thing the astronauts were able to see during the eclipse were impact flashes \u2014 tiny blips of light marking where bits of rock hit the moon.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a pinpoint of light,\u201d Hansen said in his recorded observations. \u201cIt\u2019s not like a meteor, you didn\u2019t see anything else, it\u2019s just like a bloop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before launch, the science team identified and prioritized observations they hoped the crew would be able to make during the flyby. Impact flashes were at the top of the list. Seeing the flashes would give scientists a way to estimate how often the moon is struck by incoming rocks, and how large those rocks are. That\u2019s an important thing to know for protecting future missions where astronauts will walk on the surface or build a long-term moon base.<\/p>\n
Scientists didn\u2019t know whether the astronauts would see any flashes at all. They saw five. The flashes were \u201cpinpricks of light lasting less than a second, with no color associated with the flash,\u201d Heldmann said at the meeting.<\/p>\nThe Artemis II astronauts marked up a visualization of the dark moon to show where they spotted impact flashes. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman wrote in blue, Victor \u201cIke\u201d Glover wrote in green, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen wrote in red. <\/span>NASA, CSA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nComparing the number of flashes per minute to theoretical models of how many impacts the moon might experience, scientists determined that the incoming rocks were tiny, about 8.5 grams and just over 4.5 centimeters across \u2014 about the size of a golf ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith these observations, we believe that the Artemis II crew set a record for the smallest meteorites ever optically observed to impact the moon,\u201d Heldmann said.<\/p>\n
The resulting craters are probably less than a meter wide, too small for cameras on NASA\u2019s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to see.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s good news for future astronauts. Artemis IV, planned for 2028, is supposed to bring astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since Apollo. If successful, it will be a two-week mission using landers from spaceflight companies Blue Origin or SpaceX. The probability of dangerous impact during such a mission is less than 1 in 10 million, Heldmann said. For a larger moon base meant to last a decade, the probability is higher, but still low.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we can start to quantify those impact probabilities, which turns out are very very low,\u201d she says. \u201cCrews will be very safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
The moon has more color than it seems<\/h2>\n The moon\u2019s muted colors were another high-priority observation for the science team. Lunar hues and brightnesses can change with terrain roughness, surface temperature and mineralogy \u2014 and they\u2019re much more discernable with human eyes than with cameras. The crew also saw how colors changed as the viewing angle and light levels changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is such a cool demonstration of the value of human eyes as scientific sensors,\u201d said planetary scientist Ariel Deutsch, also of NASA Ames.<\/p>\nThe terminator, the region where light transitions to darkness on the moon, is a realm of dramatic shadows and stark relief. This region captivated the Artemis II astronauts on April 6.<\/span>Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, NASA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nCombining the crew\u2019s observations with other data going back to the 1970s let scientists connect colors to composition. Blues were associated with titanium-rich volcanic rocks. Browns reflect different iron levels. Greens are from glass formed during volcanic eruptions or asteroid impacts.<\/p>\n
Future astronauts could use this information to create terrain maps and to find specific materials on the moon for sample collection or resources.<\/p>\n
The crew also was enamored with the terminator, the boundary between light and dark, which revealed lunar topography in a new way.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven as rugged as the far side looks \u2026 man, when you look at the terminator, it is just, like, impossibly rugged,\u201d Wiseman said during the flight. \u201cAnd it reminds you that the whole farside is that way. It\u2019s just the terminator is really bringing out the shadows and the hills and the valleys. And it is just \u2014 it\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lighting at the terminator is similar to what future astronauts might expect at the moon\u2019s south pole, where the sun will be low on the horizon and may cast dramatic shadows.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to make sure we have a good handle on that for both science and operations and exploration,\u201d Heldmann said.<\/p>\n
What Artemis II taught NASA for future moon missions<\/h2>\n
Some recommendations coming out of Artemis II focus on improving conditions in the spacecraft and weaving science into mission planning better. For example, due to time constraints, the astronauts\u2019 cameras were not calibrated before flight. The team is now trying to calibrate them back on Earth, but it can\u2019t re-create how the windows affected images because the windows were charred on the way back through Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\nThis is a screenshot of what the Artemis II crew saw on their tablets as they circled the moon on April 6. The software was custom built by the lunar science team and outlines the possible observations the astronauts could make while the moon was up close. <\/span>Alex Stoken, Crew Lunar Observations Team, NASA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAnother takeaway from Artemis II is to continue to refine and train astronauts in descriptive notetaking. The audio notes will be even more important for the first landed missions, where astronauts in spacesuits will not be able to write in a notebook.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to train astronauts to be field scientists, regardless of the landing site, regardless of the mission that they\u2019re given,\u201d Young says.<\/p>\n
The buddy system of two astronauts at the windows, two talking to the ground, led to better science, the team concluded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe crew had scientific discussions and tried to understand what they were viewing,\u201d Heldmann says. For surface missions, where time is limited and choices must be made quickly, that collaboration will be even more important.<\/p>\n
The crew also commented on how helpful it was.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we actually do go down there to the surface, I know for safety reasons that we would never send someone alone, but I just want to really emphasize how important the discussion time was,\u201d Glover said. \u201cWhen we started to talk, we not only got better science discussion, we got better human connection.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Six months after the Artemis II mission sent four astronauts around the moon, the value of their closeup view is coming into focus. The first science results, released on October 7, reveal details of the moon\u2019s array of colors, how often it gets hit by tiny rocks and lessons for squeezing as much science as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":106204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adviews.info\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106203"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adviews.info\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adviews.info\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adviews.info\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adviews.info\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=106203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.adviews.info\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adviews.info\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/106204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adviews.info\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=106203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adviews.info\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=106203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adviews.info\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=106203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}