Travelers in the Night Eps. 355E & 356E: Moon Water & Interplanetary Sand Traps

Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an
observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired
from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006.
travelersinthenight.org


From September 2025.


Today's 2 topics:


- The lunar roving, battery powered, 4 wheel drive "Moon Buggy"
allowed astronauts on Apollo 15, 16, and 17 to travel 8 mph on
the lunar surface with a maximum range of approximately 4.7 mi.
Some of the rocks that these space travelers brought back, from
the tiny area they were able to visit on the Moon, contained
volcanic glass beads with trace amounts of trapped water inside
of them.


 


- When the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa visited the near Earth
asteroid Itokawa in 2005 it found this 2000 foot by 800 foot
elliptical world to have a variety of surface features. Instead
of being a solid object like some asteroids, Itokawa is a rubble
pile of boulders and pebbles held together by its tiny gravity.
The total volume of pebbles seems to be comparable to the volume
of large rocks and boulders which make up Itokawa , however, the
depths of the pebbles or their concentration in the center
remains unknown. Given this uncertainty, this asteroid appears to
be made up of a million times more small particles than larger
ones. 


 


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