New Pics of the Apollo 11 Landing Site

[Hobbes]

So a serious question: what was the purpose of leaving reflectors on the moon?

By bouncing a laser off the reflectors scientists can measure the constantly changing distance between the earth and moon to an incredible accuracy level.

At the Moon's surface, the beam is only about 6.5 kilometers (four miles) wide[7] and scientists liken the task of aiming the beam to using a rifle to hit a moving dime 3 kilometers (approximately two miles) away. The reflected light is too weak to be seen with the human eye: out of 1017 photons aimed at the reflector, only one will be received back on Earth every few seconds, even under good conditions. They can be identified as originating from the laser because the laser is highly monochromatic. This is one of the most precise distance measurements ever made, and is equivalent in accuracy to determining the distance between Los Angeles and New York to one hundredth of an inch.[4][8] As of 2002 work is progressing on increasing the accuracy of the Earth-Moon measurements to near millimeter accuracy, though the performance of the reflectors continues to degrade with age.[4]

Some of the findings of this long-term experiment are:

The Moon is spiraling away from Earth at a rate of 38 mm per year.[7]
The Moon probably has a liquid core of about 20% of the Moon's radius.[3]
The universal force of gravity is very stable. The experiments have put an upper limit on the change in Newton's gravitational constant G of less than 1 part in 1011 since 1969.[3]
The likelihood of any "Nordtvedt effect" (a composition-dependent differential acceleration of the Moon and Earth towards the Sun) has been ruled out to high precision,[9][10] strongly supporting the validity of the Strong Equivalence Principle.
Einstein's theory of gravity (the general theory of relativity) predicts the Moon's orbit to within the accuracy of the laser ranging measurements.[3]

This is what it looks like:

 

[ignerntbend]

If you weren't alive, it may be hard to imagine how glorious a moment it was when Armstrong set foot on the moon. He blew the line, but history remembers what he meant to say, "that's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."
He excluded the article. I attribute it to his excitement.

 

[cjjtulsa]

Interesting; I never knew about the reflectors until this thread, and wondered if maybe they were for that purpose. I've learned my thing for the day, so nobody offer up anything else.

Looks like we left a Ziploc bag on the moon, next to the reflector. Really, Neil? You couldn't pick up your trash?

 

[ignerntbend]

It's not just the sanwich bags, it's the footprints. Couldn't they have swept those out? Those footprints and that flag will still be there when time has worn the pyramids to dust.
I have no idea who I stole that from.

 

[Hobbes]

If you weren't alive, it may be hard to imagine how glorious a moment it was when Armstrong set foot on the moon. He blew the line, but history remembers what he meant to say, "that's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."
He excluded the article. I attribute it to his excitement.

Yep, I doubt he would have been so excited to flub his prepared statement if he was really in a movie set back on earth.
Even more tellingly, NASA didn't seem to be able to film a second take so he could repeat his statement without error.

 

[ignerntbend]

Can one of you innerwebz guys post the video of old Buzz Aldren knocking some "journalist" on his ass? It's pretty funny.

 

[Hawgman]

They would have? Have you ever heard of leverage? Have you ever heard of using information as blackmail to get what you want?

I'm not saying that's the case, but I'm merely speculating just as you are.

It would have taken all the gold in Ft Knox. Oh Crap...I think I just started another conspiracy thread hijack!

 

[MaddSkillz]

Seriously Madd, does everything the government or the media tells us have to be wrong? In that case how do we know anything at all. Are you an absolute sckeptic when it comes to reality? Has an evil genie inhabited our minds as in Descartes or the Matrix?

Because dude,l mean dude.

We don't know anything we haven't personally observed. And even sometimes then, we think we see something we do not.

All we can do is make claims due to our perspectives. Sorry, I don't fit in... Dude.

 

[MaddSkillz]

Reflectors on the moon doesn't prove a moon landing. Have the Russians set foot on the moon (that we're aware of)?

 

[ignerntbend]

Jesus showed Thomas the wounds in his hands. Why did he even bother?