Is the Apollo 15 Lunar Rover still on the Moon?

Question

If the rover is not on the Moon, does it mean we never landed on the moon?

ALL the cameras on China's first lunar probe will be activated later this month and are expected to photograph every inch of the moon surface by mid January next year, a spokesman for the National Space Administration said today.

Answer 1

It may have actually been photographed already, see:
http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=h_apollo_site_02.jpg&cap=Map+of+photometric+anomalies+around+the+Apollo+15+landing+site.+Click-to-Enlarge

Story at: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/apollo15_touchdown_photos_010427.html

Another good site about where the landing occurred:
http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/imagery/apollo/AS15/a15landsite.htm

There is no doubt that it will be found there. Those that maintain that the moon landing was an elaborate hoax are intellectually dishonest at best.

There are so many problems with the conspiracy theories, but I will leave it to the sites below to explain. One thing that is probably most despotism about the issue is the issue of radio transmissions, telemetry and the Russians. Given that the radio transmissions had to have come from the moon, their transmissions could not have been "faked." Had that been the case, (and given that the cold war was still in effect) there is no doubt that the Russians would have blown the whistle on the matter, but that never happened. Part of the conspiracy? You decide.

Also remember that conspiracy theorists are usually hawking books, their speeches, whatever. . why? To MAKE MONEY. .

A few links about those with conspiracy theories and why they are wrong"
http://www.csicop.org/si/2003-03/commentary.html
http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/moonhoax.htm
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~korista/moonhoax2.html

And:
http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/pseudobib10.html

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

The rovers and the descent modules were left behind. There was no point wasting the fuel to haul them back to Earth since they had already served their purpose.

If for some reason the rovers are not on the moon now, there are two explanations. One, they were never there. Two someone removed them. Both explanations are absurd, so there's no good reason to think the rovers are not right where the Apollo astronauts left them.

The Chinese lunar orbiter, Chang'e 1, will do an extensive survey of the Moon. However, it's cameras have a resolution of 160m, which is a far cry from an inch and much to big to spot something as small as a rover. It does however have a laser altimeter with a resolution of 1m, so leftovers from Apollo may show up as bumps on the landscape.

If it's photos you want, just look at the ones NASA took on the Moon.

Answer 3

The Apollo 15 rover is still on the Moon, just like all the other objects that the astronauts left behind. Don't hold your breath waiting for the images from that satellite - scientists have better things to do with expensive equipment and limited observing time than to point that satellite at the landing sites. There's already a wealth of scientific evidence in favor of the landings and not a shred of evidence to the contrary. No informed person rejects the landings, especially scientists.

Answer 4

the rover is VERY small compared to even craters on the moon.

the cameraS might not be able to pick it up.
maybe they might make a point of it though.......

but in actuality, I don't think china is going to go out of their way the PROVE or DISPROVE a lunar hoax.
They have their own mission and better things to do.....

they're probably using some info based off the previous US missions to the moon to accomplish their own mission too.

ANYWAYS, we've left more equipment than that....
we've left mirrors on the moon that we still shoot lasers at and measure the distance of the moon with......
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_laser_ranging_experiment

thats the only way we've found out that the moon is moving away at a rate of about 3 cm a year

this is one of the places we shoot the laser from
http://sirrah.troja.mff.cuni.cz/~mira/astrofyzika_pro_fyziky/6_vzdalenosti/12lunar_ranging_sites_McDonald_and_Calern_OCA_laserFS_laserlune.png
its called the OCA Laser-Lune telemetry station

Answer 5

gentle and compact. the only maximum necessary attention is mass, because of the fact it takes somewhat some gas to enhance a kg of mass from the earth to the moon. evaluate the Satern V to the lunar module. maximum of that quantity is gas tanks. It took all that gas to enhance that small lunar module to the moon

Answer 6

The astronauts didn't have the room or fuel needed to bring large equipment like rovers back with them so yes, it's still up there along with their landing module, tools and even their human waste products.

Answer 7

The rover is too small to be picked up by the cameras. All the same unless ET took it for joy ride, yes it is still there.

Answer 8

check out the neat way NASA packed the rover onto the landing module, you can see there really would be no way to take it back with them, as even the ascent module was discarded.

Answer 9

plus the rover was folded up into the DESCENT portion of the lunar module. It yours for the taking...

Answer 10

I heard that it got towed away for a parking violation (too close to the golf course)