Machinist apprentice Priscilla Grimes operates a lathe in the Mechanical Division of the Green Bank Observatory. Grimes is participating in an apprenticeship program developed by the Robert C. Byrd Institute at Marshall University to assist the Observatory to passing on the skills of experienced employees to a new generation of workers.
Courtesy of Green Bank Observatory
autoevolution 13 Feb 2021, 9:56 UTC ·
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In July 1971, Apollo 15 took off from Earth as the ninth such crewed missions heading for the Moon. It landed there, in the Hadley Rille region, and became the first human expedition to another world to use motorized means of transportation: the famed lunar rover. 1 photo
The Moon is the closest object in space to Earth, and has been the target of intense study ever since humans became aware of it being a celestial body. But seeing its surface as a radar-generated image is not something that happens every day.
Back in November 2020, the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatory (GBO) used its Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia to do exactly that. It used the Apollo 15 landing site as a target, and when it was all done, it got back the image you see as the main photo of this piece.
Scientists have revealed an incredibly detailed image of the moon s surface showing objects as small as five metres in diameter, captured with reflected radar signals.
The image, released by the US s National Radio Astronomy Observatory, shows the landing site of NASA s Apollo 15 mission in 1971 and the surrounding grooves and jagged craters.
To obtain the image, researchers used satellites that shoot a powerful radar signal towards the moon, which was then reflected back to a system of 10 radio telescopes in North America, called the Very Long Baseline Array.
The final result marks a successful preliminary test of the highly complex radio telescope system.
Successful Test Paves Way for New Planetary Radar
Credit: NRAO/GBO/Raytheon/NSF/AUI
The National Science Foundationâs Green Bank Observatory (GBO) and National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), and Raytheon Intelligence & Space conducted a test in November to prove that a new radio telescope system can capture high-resolution images in near-Earth space.
GBO’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia â the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope â was outfitted with a new transmitter developed by Raytheon Intelligence & Space, allowing it to transmit a radar signal into space. The NRAO’s continent-wide Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) received the reflected signal and produced images of the Apollo 15 moon landing site.