“The only source of illumination on the Moon will be Earthshine, which is a different spectrum,” Deutsch said in a presentation at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference last month. “How does this affect the perception of color and tone?”
Crew members summarized their observations in periodic updates sent to Mission Control on Monday. They also recorded more detailed verbal descriptions aboard the spacecraft and were tasked with producing descriptions and interpretations to accompany their photographs. That data will return to Earth when Orion returns on Friday.
“We tell the crew that their verbal descriptions will actually be the monumental scientific dataset of this mission, and that’s because the crew as humans provide a critical perceptual context that can’t be replicated with robotic sensors,” Deutsch said. “The crew has perceptual and spatial awareness, and they have the ability to react and adapt to what they see at a moment’s notice.”
This rapid perception allowed the astronauts to see several brief flashes of light on the dark side of the Moon, each lasting a fraction of a second. Scatters occurred as a result of small fragments of space material or micrometeoroids impacting the surface of the Moon.
“It’s a needle of light,” Hansen said. “I would doubt there are more… it’s just a momentary flash the size of a star, colorless and really only lasting milliseconds, half a second at most.”
This was no surprise to Neal. “It’s a reminder that the surface is constantly being bombarded, and that’s something we’re trying to control,” he said.
Moonshots are regularly visible through telescopes on Earth. Astronomers were looking at the moon as Artemis II approached on Monday, and if scientists can correlate their observations with those of astronauts, they may better understand how much of the effect ground-based telescopes missed. Limiting the number of impact events will be important as engineers develop protective designs for the future lunar base.
