NASA has released 8400 images of the Apollo moon missions which show clips were taken at short intervals throughout the entire set of missions. This is an unprecedented release as images are of such high quality and numerous that it is leaving no doubt as to the authenticity of the missions. Moon landing conspiracies will have taken a blow as it was revealed that NASA sent the astronauts with a handful of Hasselblad cameras which nicely documented the experience.
In pics: @NASA releases high-resolution moon landing images http://t.co/Sj0zm6kG50 pic.twitter.com/FRaJMCr9qt
— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) October 3, 2015
The images were compiled over more than a decade beginning with converting the images to digital. Kipp Teague, the leader of the Project Apollo Archive, has been working on the project from the beginning, and people are now able to see the fruits of his labor in the form of 8400 pictures on Flickr.
“Around 2004, Johnson Space Center began re-scanning the original Apollo Hasseelblad camera film magazines, and Eric Jones and I began obtaining TIFF (uncompressed, high-resolution) versions of these new scans on DVD.”
The set includes images from all the missions except Apollos 7, 8, 9, 10 and 13; they will be added soon. The images below are just a small selection of the total archive.
These images will spark new interest in the moon, which is far closer and therefore easier to get to than Mars. A human colony could be built on the moon much quicker and cheaper due to the moon being months away (384,400 km), while Mars is several years away (54.6 million km). Some observers are more interested in the moon because it has minerals we need back on Earth. Moon Express, the company looking to send a commercial robotic spacecraft to the moon next year, has received U.S. government support to “ spur new commercial U.S. capabilities to reach the moon and tap into its considerable resources .” The resources to be mined are gold, cobalt, iron, palladium, platinum, tungsten and Helium-3, which is the fuel for fusion reactors which could supply all of Earth’s energy needs without producing any waste.
A billionaire is now one step closer to mining the lunar surface for rare and precious metals http://t.co/sqRO4thl5B pic.twitter.com/tDYBWqK0a0 — CNBC (@CNBC) October 2, 2015
A commercial moon landing would seek out the best places to begin harvesting resources, such as minerals, on the moon. A commercial mission might also consider starting a colony on the moon. In fact, Europe’s next space chief has indicated he would seek to put a human colony on the moon .
Moon Express Aims For First Commercial Moon Landing In 2017 – Tech Times http://t.co/Fu3jedGFr2 pic.twitter.com/8Uh0tPuVld
— Live News (Tunisia) (@TunBreakingNews) October 3, 2015
Home On the Moon: How to Build a Lunar Colony (Infographic) http://t.co/0T2ZCSEom3 pic.twitter.com/uK2Fsa3NCT
— SPACE.com (@SPACEdotcom) September 30, 2015
With all the attention to the discovery of liquid water on Mars, people have not considered that water ice has already been found on the moon and that a colony sent to the moon could melt this ice to provide for their water needs. In fact, NASA is currently engaged in answering the question how best to mine this ice for water.
Not only could the ice be melted for astronauts to drink, but also the hydrogen and oxygen could be broken apart to provide for creation of rocket fuel for the journey home. In the end, the moon is an achievable goal in the short-term and offers a place for a human colony outside of Earth. Whether a choice will have to be made whether to colonize the moon or Mars remains to be seen as missions are gearing up for both. With the release of these pictures, the moon is back on the space agenda.
[Images by Bill Ingalls, Project Apollo Archive / NASA]
