# Moon Landings: why is there no dust in the lander pads? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 9, 2008, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812 "2008-07-09T08:44:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/201 "2008-07-11T02:04:19Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] …For that matter, what do they say about Apollo 13? [/QUOTE] That Tom Hanks was brilliant as usual. Gary Sinese was painfull to watch but he is always painfull to watch, that’s what makes his portrayel of troubled charactors believable. However, dude, putting Bill “I fart with more emotion” Paxton and Keven “Everymovie’s Co-star” Bacon in the same movie made it nearly unwatchable. The only way it could have been worse would have been to put the kid who played Chaka on Land of The Lost at the controls. Oh… Wait… Nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/202 "2008-07-11T07:25:44Z")
I know you weren’t serious, but… [QUOTE=DrFidelius] Have you ever seen these “moon rocks”? . [/QUOTE] Yes. And the XRF work done on them too. [QUOTE=DrFidelius] The government keeps them locked up tighter than a very tightly locked thing. [/QUOTE] Ours was in our departmental collection, IIRC. In its own locked case, but hardly Fort Knox. [QUOTE=DrFidelius] They could be anything, from cement to styrofoam to just normal rocks. [/QUOTE] Maybe to a layman. To a geologist, the signature of lunar rocks is unique. ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/203 "2008-07-11T11:22:08Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] I know you weren’t serious, but…Yes. And the XRF work done on them too.Ours was in our departmental collection, IIRC. In its own locked case, but hardly Fort Knox. Maybe to a layman. To a geologist, the signature of lunar rocks is unique. [/QUOTE] You’re not trying to obfuscate the truth with facts are you. The truth is out there, we just have to keep looking beyond the facts, evidence and common sense to find it. Seriously though, did you work with them personally? Was the crystal structure vastly different due to the gravity reduction? What other differences were there? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/204 "2008-07-11T12:34:46Z")
[QUOTE=nd\_n8] Seriously though, did you work with them personally? [/QUOTE] A little before my time for the actual research work - what we had to look at were specimen samples that I believe NASA sent out to lots of places. UCT has a world-class geochemistry department. [QUOTE=nd\_n8] Was the crystal structure vastly different due to the gravity reduction? [/QUOTE] Not sos you’d notice. Gravity clearly plays a role in crystal fractionation, but not in crystal growth, as such. [QUOTE=nd\_n8] What other differences were there? [/QUOTE] The bit we looked at under XRF was KREEP - basaltic material unusually enriched (compared to Earth Basalts) in Potassium, Rare Earth Elements and Phosphorous, and completely depleted in any traces of H[sub]2[/sub]O. Generally (but not noticeably in our sample), lunar KREEP is also enriched in radioactive isotopes relative to Earth crustal rocks. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/205 "2008-07-11T12:46:14Z")
[QUOTE=nd\_n8] You’re not trying to obfuscate the truth with facts are you. The truth is out there, we just have to keep looking beyond the facts, evidence and common sense to find it. Seriously though, did you work with them personally? Was the crystal structure vastly different due to the gravity reduction? What other differences were there? [/QUOTE] Please, always capitalize Truth to differentiate the concept from the less encompassing “truth.” Small-t truth is constrained by facts and logical inferences from those facts; Truth (or even better _ **TRUTH!** _) is not limited by such pedestrian consideration. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/206 "2008-07-11T14:54:58Z")
Last night I had a thought that should wrap up the dusty lander pad debate. OK. Let’s say it was faked. They set up a LM mockup in a studio and shot all of the pictures there. I would argue that, under those conditions, _there still would be some dust on the lander pads_. With the presumed exception of “white rooms”, dust in endemic to every place. The Moon Landing Studio in Area 51 would be no exception. In fact, if, as it appears, they dumped truckloads of dirt on the studio floor to make the “lunar surface” look more realistic, there would have been plenty of dust to waft around, some of it settling on the pads. So, _wherever_ the photos were taken, there must have been _some_ dust on the lander pads. The fact that this dust does not show up in the photos proves only that the cameras and film used simply didn’t have sufficient resolution to show it. Q.E.D. and p.f.f.f.t.h! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/207 "2008-07-11T15:03:59Z")
[QUOTE=BJMoose] In fact, if, as it appears, they dumped truckloads of dirt on the studio floor to make the “lunar surface” look more realistic, there would have been plenty of dust to waft around, some of it settling on the pads. [/QUOTE] Ah, but the cleaning crew would have cleaned it up. And as we know, there are no cleaning crews on the Moon. Therefore, it was all staged. Game, set, and match. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/208 "2008-07-11T15:28:23Z")
So did we lose the OP? Or was my reading assignment taken seriously? ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/209 "2008-07-11T15:38:08Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] Ah, but the cleaning crew would have cleaned it up. And as we know, there are no cleaning crews on the Moon. Therefore, it was all staged. Game, set, and match. [/QUOTE] Pish, posh and piddle. The cleaning crew around here is pretty durned efficient (did you know a squirrel’s tail makes an excellent duster?), but that coffee table over there has dust on it, even though I can’t see it from four feet away. Get your butt in here, Rocky - you missed a spot. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/210 "2008-07-11T17:11:40Z")
[QUOTE=BJMoose] Besides, we moose don’t know enough about music to orchestrate _anything_. [/QUOTE] Space travel, on the other hand, you know. I think we found out moon hoaxer, boys. Clearly Gibney and Cloyd put him up to it to make the moon look uninhabited. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/211 "2008-07-11T17:22:53Z")
[QUOTE=Tengu] Space travel, on the other hand, you know. I think we found out moon hoaxer, boys. Clearly Gibney and Cloyd put him up to it to make the moon look uninhabited. [/QUOTE] :blushes: ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/212 "2008-07-11T18:11:50Z")
[QUOTE=DrFidelius] Have you ever seen these “moon rocks”? The government keeps them locked up tighter than a very tightly locked thing. They could be anything, from cement to styrofoam to just normal rocks. The “Moon Rocks” are the easiest part of the conspiracy… [/QUOTE] Actually, I saw some moon rocks in September 1969 at an exhibit at the MIT Museum. They were being sent out to labs even then. I’ve also toured the depository - and Fort Know also, in fact, and I got a lot closer to the rocks than the gold. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/213 "2008-07-11T19:54:26Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] So did we lose the OP? Or was my reading assignment taken seriously? [/QUOTE] The OP came here to talk _to_ us, not talk _with_ us. When we didn’t applaud his efforts without question, he left to do it all over again elsewhere. I doubt that you gave him any information he hasn’t already received from other boards. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/214 "2008-07-11T19:56:45Z")
I assume as much, but hope springs eternal. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/215 "2008-07-11T19:57:13Z")
And here I was thinking ‘Another satisfied customer!’… C’est la vie. -XT ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/216 "2008-07-11T20:25:13Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] Actually, I saw some moon rocks in September 1969 at an exhibit at the MIT Museum. They were being sent out to labs even then. I’ve also toured the depository - and Fort Know also, in fact, and I got a lot closer to the rocks than the gold. [/QUOTE] But how did you _know_ they were moon rocks? Same goes for **MrDibble** –y’all were both only _told_ they were from the moon. You can’t know for sure. You were just unwitting pawns used to perpetuate the lie. Ha! Put that in your credulity pipe and blow bubbles out of it! . ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/217 "2008-07-11T20:35:24Z")
[QUOTE=andros] Ha! Put that in your credulity pipe and blow bubbles out of it! . [/QUOTE] They aren’t _real_ bubbles, you know… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812/218 "2008-07-11T21:38:25Z")
[QUOTE=andros] But how did you _know_ they were moon rocks? Same goes for **MrDibble** –y’all were both only _told_ they were from the moon. You can’t know for sure. You were just unwitting pawns used to perpetuate the lie. Ha! Put that in your credulity pipe and blow bubbles out of it! . [/QUOTE] Bubbles in what is supposed to be vacuum? You’re right, definitely a hoax. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landings-why-is-there-no-dust-in-the-lander-pads/455812.md?page=10)