Apollo 15 Lunar Module Soil Mechanics ASCII Data Bundle Overview ======== This PDS4 bundle (urn:nasa:pds:a15lsrp_soil_mechanics) contains Apollo 15 soil mechanics data migrated from the PDS3 volume A15L-L-LSRP-2/3-SOIL-MECHANICS-V1.0. This dataset contains tables of raw readings and reduced data from all six runs on 01 August 1971 of the Lunar Self-Recording Penetrometer (LSRP) on the surface of the Moon for the Apollo 15 Soil Mechanics experiment. Supporting documentation includes digitized scans in JPEG and PDF format of the original LSRP soil mechanics dataset on microfilm, videos and transcripts of the LSRP as it was operated on the Moon, diagrams and maps of the experiment areas, and photography of the Apollo 15 Station 8 where the experiment was performed. All six Apollo 15 penetrometer runs were done near a 40 cm deep trench dug by the astronaut at Station 8 which was next to the ALSEP site which was centered at 26.1341 degrees North latitude, 3.6298 degrees East longitude, roughly 110 meters West-North-West of the lunar module. The runs were performed near the end of second EVA (extra-vehicular activity) on 01 August 1971. The flight unit S/N 2003 and lunar drum S/N 2002 were used for all runs. The drum was returned to Earth and the etchings made by the penetrometer were read and recorded on hand-written charts by the investigators. Copies of the charts were sent to the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC), where they were microfilmed and archived. For more information about the experiment see the Chapter 7 of the Apollo 15 Preliminary Science Report, which is provided in the DOCUMENT directory. This bundle contains the following collections: data: Apollo 15 Soil Mechanics data products (acquired on 1971-08-01) document: -description of the Apollo 15 soil mechanics data products -landing site maps -diagrams of the site of the Apollo 15 Station 8 sampling area and the Lunar Module area -sketched map of the Apollo 15 landing site and lunar rover traverse map -Apollo 15 landing site and sampling stations shown on a high-resolution image -a PDF/A version of the entire Apollo 15 Soil Mechanics Lunar Self-Recording Penetrometer (LSRP) data report -descriptions of the Apollo 15 mission -descriptions of Apollo 15 Lunar Module -descriptions of the Apollo 15 Lunar Self-Recording Penetrometer -video with audio taken by the astronauts as they used the LSRP to perform index runs 2-7 of the Apollo 15 Soil Mechanics experiment -transcript of the commentary for the LSRP Soil Mechanics experiment performed at Apollo 15 Station 8 -photographs -images of handwritten Apollo 15 Soil Mechanics Lunar Self-Recording Penetrometer (LSRP) report -Chapter 7, Soil Mechanics Experiment, of the Apollo 15 Preliminary Science Report Data Products and PDS Labels ============================ Every Apollo 15 Lunar Module Soil Mechanics ASCII data product is accompanied by a PDS label in a file with the same name as the data file, but with the extension ".xml", as PDS labels are written in XML (Extended Markup Language). The labels may be viewed in a text editor or web browser, preferably one that applies special formatting to XML files to make them more readable. The labels may also be read by software that can interpret XML. Apollo 15 Lunar Module Soil Mechanics data are in ASCII tables. All these data files may be read using the PDS4 Viewer tool. Documentation ============= Chapter 7 "Soil Mechanics Experiment" of the Apollo 15 Preliminary Science Report in the document collection describes the instrument, instrument deployment, and observations of the Apollo 15 Heat Flow Experiment. This dataset is described in more detail in "dataset_description.txt" in the document collection. ============== This bundle was created and archived by the Geosciences Node of the Planetary Data System. Questions about this bundle may be directed to geosci@wunder.wustl.edu.