The "curators" from NASA, for some unknown reason, did not allow their own colleagues, who were studying the properties of the lunar soil, to the bucket of the Surveyor 3 probe that returned to Earth from the Moon
According to the official history of NASA's lunar exploration, the Apollo 12 lander astronauts arrived on the Moon in November 1969 and walked to the Surveyor 3, which had survived unexpectedly well on an Earth satellite two years earlier.
They carried out a survey of the apparatus, measurements, broke off and took with them a small ladle, with the help of which the mechanical properties of the lunar soil were remotely studied.
The study of the properties of the lunar soil with the bucket of the Surveyor 3 probe made it possible to obtain results of unprecedented significance, which made possible the exploration of the Moon by man using even such extravagant technology as "lunar cars". The creation of a wheeled vehicle for the Moon 40 years ago would have been impossible without a preliminary study of the properties of the lunar soil - including the Surveyor 3 bucket.
Now, after a comprehensive survey by NASA experts, this scoop, along with other "lunar" relics, is kept in the Kansas Space Museum in a sealed special container.
As part of the "return to the moon" program, which NASA began to develop on the initiative of the current US president, astronauts and automatic systems will also have to come into direct contact with the lunar surface. To do this, one must have a good idea of what exactly can expect them on the moon. In particular, it is necessary to obtain at least basic information about the properties of the lunar soil.
According to Space.com, the Regolith Characterization team of the ISRU (In-Situ Resource Utilization) division of the NASA Space Research Center named after Glenn, leading work in this area and, in particular, designing new scoops for sampling lunar soil, recalled Surveyor bucket 3.
The study of its technical features, and at least the determination of the dimensions, would allow solving the problem of paramount importance - determining the force that must be applied to the bucket for taking soil samples. True, it has already been repeatedly and successfully solved by NASA before, but now for some reason it needed to be solved again.
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But it was not there.
Suddenly it turned out that the blueprints for the Surveyor 3 and Surveyor 7 probes were lost. Now only the ladle itself was able to reveal its own secrets. However, the "curators" from NASA did not allow their own colleagues to approach the ladle, not allowing them to remove it from the container and, accordingly, take direct measurements. The last chance remained - photogrammetry.
Using photogrammetric equipment, specialists from the Glenn Center managed to measure the dimensions of its visible parts with an accuracy of about 1 mm from stereoscopic images of a ladle right in the container. The experiment was completed successfully - a new ladle made according to the drawings obtained in this way showed the adhesion force with the simulator of the lunar soil approximately the same as during the "lunar" epic 40 years ago.
It is not entirely clear why the scientists were not allowed to the ladle - its detailed analysis using modern methods would significantly expand the understanding of the properties of the lunar soil. Suffice it to recall the experiment of the Japanese scientist Minoru Ozima, who showed using modern methods that the rocks from the official samples of NASA "lunar" soil were actually formed in the presence of the earth's atmosphere.
It is strange that, in general, NASA does not demonstrate too attentive attitude to the relics of the "lunar" epic. In the United States, samples of lunar soil were repeatedly stolen, and sometimes in "wholesale" quantities - so, in 2002, as many as 3 centners were damaged, significantly more valuable than a ladle, relics. At the same time, the original video recordings made, according to the official version, directly on the lunar surface by astronauts, were completely lost.
As journalists have managed to find out to date, the archive, which included a total of 26 thousand bobbins, disappeared without a trace while being transported from the National Records Center in Sweetland, Maryland to the Goddard Space Flight Center at the turn of 1970-1980 biennium
More information about the mysteries that the Surveyor 3 bucket continues to store, and the mysteries of NASA's lunar program in general, will be presented on the Research and Development portal - R & D. CNews