If you were only to view the Apollo mission footage and most of the data shown in text books and documentaries about the Moon, you would be most likely to conclude that the Moon is a lifeless world, because of its hostile environment
– with any point on the surface flipping between searing heat and frigidity every 2 weeks. It is simply a world of rocks, dust and craters…
However, some interesting observations have been made, over the years. The observations and images discussed in this chapter may not be the result of the activities of extraterrestrial life
– past or present
– but I would argue that these features are not obviously the result of easily recognised or described geological processes either, hence their inclusion. At the very least, they may indicate that the moon is not a “hot-cold, dead rocky world…” TLP and Lunar Anomalies An interesting discussion of what “lunar matters” we might not be being told about can be found in Ingo Swann’s book “Penetration”. Swann references a very interesting NASA “Technical Report” R-277 from 1966 – “Chronological Catalog of reported lunar events”. (Among the listed authors is famous UK Astronomer Patrick Moore!)
The Abstract of the report reads: A catalog of reports of lunar events, or temporary changes on the moon, has been compiled based on literature covering more than four centuries. In most cases, the original reference has been consulted...
Each entry includes a brief description and date of the observation, the name of the observer(s), where these are known, and the reference. The report lists what are known as “Transient Lunar Phenomena” – and these are still observed today. Most of these phenomena are, by definition, short-lived – lasting a few hours or perhaps 2 days. They are only observed by a very small number of people, so they have even been dismissed by mainstream scientists and experts. They are rarely, if ever, discussed outside astronomical forums. The NASA catalogue lists 579 observations over the period of 1540 to 1967.
There are one or two other interesting photos from the Lunar Orbiter Project . So, what was the Lunar Orbiter Project? The Lunar Orbiter Program, managed by Langley Research Center, was one of three unmanned programs undertaken by NASA to collect data and help select site for the manned landings. The low orbits around the moon provided extensive photographic coverage of specified areas. The program was a series of five unmanned lunar orbiter missions from 1966 through 1967. Intended to help select Apollo landing sites by mapping the Moon's surface, they provided the first photographs from the lunar orbit.
Lunar Orbiter 5, the last of the Lunar Orbiter series, was designed to take the additional Apollo and Surveyor landing site photography and to take the broad survey images of parts of the Moon's far side. The spacecraft acquired photographic data from August 6 to 18, 1967, and readout occurred until August 27, 1967. A total of 633 high resolution and 211 medium resolution frames at resolution down to 2 meters.
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