LRO Sees Apollo 11 on the Moon!

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The LRO satellite recently imaged the Apollo 11 landing area on the surface of
the moon. The above (172 pixels wide x 171 pixels high) image shows this area and is
172 meters wide.

Problem 1 - Determine the scale of the image in meters per millimeter and meters per
pixel? What is the diameter, in meters, of A) the largest crater? B) the smallest crater?

Problem 2 - The shadow identified by the arrow was cast by the Lunar Landing Module
which is about 3.5 meters tall. Using A) trigonometry, or a B) scaled drawing and a
protractor, what was the sun angle at the time of the photograph?

Problem 3 - Are there any individual boulders larger than 1 meter across in this area?

Space Math http://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov

 Calculating the Distance to the Horizon
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An important quantity in planetary
exploration is the distance to the horizon.
This will, naturally, depend on the diameter
of the planet (or asteroid!) and the height of
the observer above the ground.

Another application of this geometry

is in determining the height of a transmission
antenna in order to insure proper reception
out to a specified distance. This is
especially important for lunar explorers
because the Moon does not have an
ionosphere capable of 'bouncing' the radio
signals over the horizon.

Problem 1: If the radius of the planet is given by R, and the height above the surface is
given by h, use the figure above, and the Pythagorean Theorem, to derive the formula for
the line-of-sight horizon distance, d, to the horizon tangent point.

Problem 2: Derive the distance along the planet, L, to the tangent point.

Problem 3: For a typical human height of 2 meters, what is the horizon distance on A) Earth
(R=6378 km); B) The Moon ( 1,738 km)

Problem 4: A radio station has an antenna tower 50 meters tall. What is the maximum line-of-
sight (LOS) reception distance on the Moon?

Space Math http://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov