The other night I was watching a rerun of the Mythbusters episode where they attempt to debunk several elements of the persistent conspiracy theory talk that the moon landings were faked. Quite honestly, some of the ways they chose to debunk the claims were themselves a little less than convincing, as Phil Plait noted back when the episode first aired last August. But the most convincing one they did was a segment where they went to an observatory that has a laser which can pinpoint a series of reflectors placed on the moon by Apollo 17. The astronomer showed them how she aims the laser at known coordinates on the lunar surface, and measures the response — when the laser hits the reflectors (which are big prismic arrays about the size of a car door panel), it basically bounces back and is picked up by the observatory’s instruments. Thus, it is demonstrable that the astronauts did go to the moon and deliberately leave the reflectors in documented locations.
Works for me, since I have no doubt in my mind in the first place that we absolutely did send astronauts to the moon and bring them back again. But if you STILL need more hard evidence, well, maybe THIS will sell you:
India (yes, I said India) launched its first lunar probe, Chandrayaan, late last year. Apart from the bragging rights and the obvious technological benefits, the ostensible scientific mission of Chandrayaan is to produce a complete three-dimensional atlas of the lunar surface, including mapping the geological, mineralogical and chemical compositions of the surface.
Today, the Times Of India reports, a scientist involved in the project has told them that Chandrayaan has also mapped and photographed the landing sites of five of the six Apollo missions that landed on the moon (via slashdot). This would be the first direct photography of the sites other than the mission photography itself, and further proof of the reality of successful manned landings on the lunar surface.
Of course, this won’t deter the hardcore conspiracy loonies, but it might shut up the occasional asshole in a bar who won’t shut up about such nonsense.
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