Using a specially designed metal scoop, the author took soil samples from the floor of Camelot Crater on December 12, 1972. Human geologists may one day do the same on Mars; in the meantime, they rely on robot proxies such as Mars Pathfinder, which explored Ares Vallis in 1997.Photoillustration by Scientific American; Courtesy of NASA (moon and Mars)
The Apollo lunar exploration that began 40 years ago was not done primarily for science, but science nonetheless benefited hugely. The astronauts collected samples and took measurements that narrowed hypotheses of the moon’s origin and provided a point of comparison for observations of other planets.
On the final moon shot, Apollo 17 in December 1972, the author became the only scientist ever to visit the moon. As he describes here, lunar exploration proved to be similar to geologic fieldwork on Earth. He learned to mentally disentangle the effects of meteor impacts to see the underlying rock types. But it was tricky to judge distance in the alien landscape, and stiff spacesuit gloves limited how fast he could work.
Similar issues will arise on Mars missions.
Read Whole Article Here at Scientific American
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