You would think the reflectors being on the moon would shut up the “moon landings were faked” crowd.
What if the moon is just really shiny?
The lunar laser ranging experiment is still going 50 years later
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Re: The lunar laser ranging experiment is still going 50 years later
#12You would think the reflectors being on the moon would shut up the “moon landings were faked” crowd.
Alas, that's not how it works. Any video you could show of the laser experiment would also be faked. Even if you were to set them in front of the equipment, that'd be faked too. I often wonder as a thought-experiment what would happen if you bundled them onto a Musk style space tourism rocket and flew them to the moon to see the flag (for a bonus they can look back to see the spherical Earth) and then back, would the…
No point sending a camera up, the camera manufacturers have tweaked the firmware to create the illusion of curvature.
I _know_ the earth is flat, so I already know that GoPro are in on the conspiracy as well.
Your "throw them on a rocket" idea is the only realistic way to convince them I would imagine. Which gives me an idea, maybe that could be my ticket to the moon
Re: The lunar laser ranging experiment is still going 50 years later
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
Alas, that's not how it works. Any video you could show of the laser experiment would also be faked. Even if you were to set them in front of the equipment, that'd be faked too. I often wonder as a thought-experiment what would happen if you bundled them onto a Musk style space tourism rocket and flew them to the moon to see the flag (for a bonus they can look back to see the spherical Earth) and then back, would the…
No point sending a camera up, the camera manufacturers have tweaked the firmware to create the illusion of curvature. I _know_ the earth is flat, so I already know that GoPro are in on the conspiracy as well. Your "throw them on a rocket" idea is the only realistic way to convince them I would imagine. Which gives me an idea, maybe that could be my ticket to the moon
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Re: The lunar laser ranging experiment is still going 50 years later
#14You would think the reflectors being on the moon would shut up the “moon landings were faked” crowd.
As if it's not possible to place the reflectors using a robot.
Re: The lunar laser ranging experiment is still going 50 years later
#15I've heard it said that this is the most significant figures ever accurately recorded in any measurement, ever.
Re: The lunar laser ranging experiment is still going 50 years later
#16I always liked the story of the Lunokhod 1 - the first of the two Soviet Lunar Rovers. Both had reflectors for laser ranging, but Lunokhod 1 was carelessly misplaced in the early 1970s. So no more ranging until 2010 when the NASA reconnaissance orbiter found it again. They didn't lose the other one. :) I think one of the Lunokhods still holds the record for the furthest ever travelled by an extra terrestrial vehicle.
Lunakhod 1 was still responding in 2013 (40 years later) thanks to the NASA LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter).
French website, as it was a (secret) collaboration between Russians and the CNES who provided the retroreflector:
https://sciences-techniques.cnes.fr/fr/web/CNES-fr/10757-st-...
Re: The lunar laser ranging experiment is still going 50 years later
#17I have long wondered how easy it would be to perform this experiment as an amateur. Powerful lasers are quite cheap now. You could get a telescope (doubling as a beam expander and receiver), and some filters to only allow the laser wavelength to your detector.
Post this to HN when you do it. I would love to follow suit and play around with the idea.
Re: The lunar laser ranging experiment is still going 50 years later
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
isn't the lack of impacts near the retroreflector due to the fact that the moon surface around the reflector is always facing earth?
The earth covers a pretty small part of the sky for the moon, so I'm not sure it would have that much effect?
According to NASA [0], you are correct. Furthermore:
"It is likely that each side of the Moon has received equal numbers of impacts, but the resurfacing by lava results in fewer craters visible on the near side than the far side, even though the both sides have received the same number of impacts."
Re: The lunar laser ranging experiment is still going 50 years later
#19You would think the reflectors being on the moon would shut up the “moon landings were faked” crowd.
Maybe they don't know about them. It was an astonishing achievement - skepticism has its place.
Re: The lunar laser ranging experiment is still going 50 years later
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Alas, that's not how it works. Any video you could show of the laser experiment would also be faked. Even if you were to set them in front of the equipment, that'd be faked too. I often wonder as a thought-experiment what would happen if you bundled them onto a Musk style space tourism rocket and flew them to the moon to see the flag (for a bonus they can look back to see the spherical Earth) and then back, would the…
I tell them that it’s faked and that NASA hired Stanley Kubrick to film the whole thing. He did such a good job because he filmed it on location.
That Mitchell and Webb has a brilliant sketch on this premise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6MOnehCOUw