Apollo 17 — 45th Anniversary Symposium
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
May 3, 2017
Dr. Schmitt addressing the Symposium audience.
On May 3, Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD held the first of several events in 2017 commemorating the 45th anniversary flight of Apollo 17 to the Moon. The Center hosted a special symposium in which Dr. Harrison H. Schmitt gave the keynote address.
The lecture was based on his recently published technical article: H. H. Schmitt, N. E. Petro, R. A. Wells, M. S. Robinson, B. P. Weiss, and C. M. Mercer, Revisiting the field geology of Taurus–Littrow, Icarus, 298:2-33 (2017). A PDF copy of this paper can be downloaded by clicking here (19 Mb).
The publication and lecture both discuss novel observations and conclusions regarding the evolution of the geology of Taurus-Littrow Valley where the Apollo 17 lunar module landed on Dec. 11, 1972. The new interpretations include the formation of the Lee-Lincoln scarp; the debris flow or avalanches from the South Massif at the western end of the valley; age dating the returned rock samples; sequential origins of the principal basins Imbrium, Serenitatis, and Crisium; evolution of the Sculptured Hills; a discussion of the orange soil from Shorty Crater; a new formation date and evolution of Camelot Crater; and the first determination of the orientation of a returned glassy rock sample. The remanent magnetization of the latter can now be used in the determination of the lunar paleomagnetic field orientation at the time of the rock’s formation.
The lecture lasts about 1 hr and 25 min, including a Q&A session at the end. The mp4 file is large: 290 Mb, and can be viewed or downloaded by clicking here. To save it directly (if the browser auto plays the file), use the browser’s “save video as…” feature by right-clicking in the video frame, or control(ctrl)-click on a MAC if the mouse has only one button.
The sound for the first couple of minutes of Dr. Schmitt’s introduction is low until his microphone is turned on. (Video provided courtesy of Noah Petro, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Special thanks to Colin Mackellar of Sydney, Australia for resizing and compressing the original video clip).
Copyright © by Harrison H. Schmitt, 2017. All rights reserved.