List_of_artificial_objects_on_the_Moon

List of artificial objects on the Moon

List of artificial objects on the Moon

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This is a partial list of artificial materials left on the Moon, many during the missions of the Apollo program. The table below does not include lesser Apollo mission artificial objects, such as a hammer and other tools, retroreflectors, Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Packages, or the commemorative, artistic, and personal objects left by the twelve Apollo astronauts, such as the United States flags, the commemorative plaques attached to the ladders of the six Apollo Lunar Modules, the silver astronaut pin left by Alan Bean in honor of Clifton C. Williams whom he replaced, the Bible left by David Scott, the Fallen Astronaut statuette and memorial plaque placed by the crew of Apollo 15, the Apollo 11 goodwill messages disc, or the golf balls[1] Alan Shepard hit during an Apollo 14 moonwalk.

Locations of major spacecraft on the Moon superimposed on data from the Clementine mission in equirectangular projection

Five S-IVB third stages of Saturn V rockets from the Apollo program crashed into the Moon, and are the heaviest human-made objects on the lunar surface. Humans have left over 187,400 kilograms (413,100 lb) of material on the Moon. Besides the 2019 Chang'e 4 and SLIM missions, the only artificial objects on the Moon that are still in use are the retroreflectors for the Lunar Laser Ranging experiments left there by the Apollo 11, 14, and 15 astronauts, Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander, and by the Soviet Union's Lunokhod 1 and Lunokhod 2 missions.[2]

Objects at greater than 90 degrees east or west are on the far side of the Moon, including Ranger 4, Lunar Orbiter 1, Lunar Orbiter 2, Lunar Orbiter 3, Chang'e 4 lander and Yutu-2 rover.

Because of increasing numbers of missions to and objects at the Moon, a global registry of lunar activities has been proposed in 2023 by the Open Lunar Foundation.[3]

List

Legend

More information Colors ...

Table of objects

More information Artificial object, Image ...

See also

Notes

Footnotes

  1. Spacecraft was in lunar orbit but is assumed to have decayed from orbit and crashed into the Moon, location unknown.
  2. Portions recovered by Apollo 12 in 1969: it returned about 10 kilograms (22 lb) of the Surveyor 3's original landing mass of 302 kilograms (666 lb) to Earth to study the effects of long term exposure.
  3. The ascent stage of Apollo 10 was commanded to fire its engine, left lunar orbit and entered solar orbit. The ascent stage of Apollo 11 was left in orbit and thereafter its orbit possibly decayed and it crashed onto the Moon at an unknown location. The Apollo 16 ascent stage failed to crash onto moon when commanded and it decayed from orbit at a later date and also crashed at an unknown location. The ascent stages of the remaining successful missions (Apollo 12, 14, 15, and 17) were each deliberately crashed onto the Moon. Apollo 13's complete Apollo Lunar Module re-entered Earth's atmosphere after having served as a lifeboat during the aborted mission.
  4. Luna program sample return mission; mass listed is for both ascent and descent stages, though only the descent stage was left on the Moon.
  5. Lander and rover weighed 4,000 pounds (1,814 kg); the rest assumed to have decayed in orbit and impacted the Moon.
  6. Was injected into lunar orbit in 1990, assumed to have decayed from orbit.
  7. –2.36 miles (–3.80 km) in elevation (Cabeus crater).
  8. –2.38 miles (–3.83 km) in elevation (Cabeus crater).

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