2
$\begingroup$

Two astronomy questions below relate to Clementine and poking around I found Ice on the Bone Dry Moon which was

Written by Paul D. Spudis, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX, Deputy Leader of the Clementine Science Team

The 1996 blogpost discusses Clementine's bistatic radar experiment1 (S-band carrier from spacecraft high gain antenna reflected off the moon and received on Earth by DSN dishes) See Nozette et al (1996) The Clementine Bistatic radar Experiment Science 274, pp 1495-1498

The discovery of ice on the Moon has enormous implications for a permanent human return to the Moon. Water ice is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, two elements vital to human life and space operations. Lunar ice could be mined and disassociated into hydrogen and oxygen by electric power provided by solar panels deployed in nearby illuminated areas or a nuclear generator. This hydrogen and oxygen is a prime rocket fuel, giving us the ability to refuel rockets at a lunar "filling station" and making transport to and from the Moon more economical by at least a factor of ten. Additionally, the water from lunar polar ice and oxygen generated from the ice could support a permanent facility or outpost on the Moon. The discovery of this material, rare on the Moon but so vital to human life and operations in space, will make our expansion into the Solar System easier and reaffirms the immense value of our own Moon as the stepping stone into the universe.

I've magnified and sharpened the tiny image in the blogpost. Presumably it's from a much larger image, somehwere.

Question: What is the origin, artist, and original purpose of this unusual NASA image from 1996 or earlier? Is it related to Clementine directly?

found in Ice on the Bone Dry Moon by Paul D. Spudis and zoomed/shaprened

Note "The Apollo Museum" sign in lower right, and possibly a Radio Flyer(?) full of moon rocks.


Further reading:

In this experiment the Clementine spacecraft transmitted an unmodulated S-band right-circularly polarized signal through the 1.1 meter high-gain antenna. The signal had a frequency of 2.273 GHz (13.19 cm wavelength) and net power of about 6 watts. The high gain antenna has a half-power half-beamwidth of 4.0 degrees. Reflections were received on Earth by the 70 meter antennae of the Deep Space Network (DSN) at Goldstone (United States), Madrid (Spain) and Canberra (Australia).

$\endgroup$
2

1 Answer 1

2
$\begingroup$
  • Artist: Pat Rawlings
  • Depicted: Hypothetical future lunar mass driver installation
  • Relation to Clementine: scene depicted is on the Moon. Clementine orbited the Moon.

Source: NSS Lunar Bases and Settlements

An imagined future on the Moon, showing some of the activities we might undertake there. The long, linear feature is a mass driver, a method of using magnetic levitation and propulsion to launch materials off the Moon’s surface without rockets. In this case, oxygen produced from lunar materials is shipped into space for use in orbital refueling stations. The array of dish antennas at right remind us that the surface of the Moon is an excellent place to observe the universe around us. Here, a radio telescope interferometer (an instrument used to integrate data from two or more telescopes) yields high-resolution maps of the radio sky. At bottom right, a young explorer shares the vista of the settlement on the New World with a parent. Artwork by Pat Rawlings.

Source: Once and Future Moon Poster

...its origin and purpose, still a total mystery

  • Dr. Heywood Floyd, 2001 - A Space Odyssey
$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.