On 16th July 1969, exactly forty years ago, Apollo 11 blasted off to the moon, where Neil Armstrong took the 'great step for mankind' of first walking on its surface. This episode of Catalyst looks back at one of man's greatest achievements and takes another look at the moon.
Moon Dust
Moon Dust, as fine as talcum powder, is one of the greatest challenges to lunar exploration. The only source of information on it belongs to retired physics professor, Brian O'Brien, in Perth. Dr Paul Willis meets the man, the tapes, and the team trying to decipher them, in a bid to unravel the dusty mysteries.
Moon Rocks and The Hole at the Bottom of the Moon
A bombardment of Earth by asteroids 4 billion years ago could have made the conditions that were just right for the creation of life. If scientists can work out when big showers of meteorites hit the Moon, where the craters they made are less eroded than on Earth, they will also be able to discover when they hit the Earth. Graham Phillips reveals how astronauts hope to bring back and date rocks from 'The Hole at the Bottom of the Moon' crater to enable astrobiologists to work out if the bombardment of Earth indeed coincided with the beginnings of life.
Earthshine
Mark Horstman meets a PhD student in Melbourne who, in a simple yet elegant experiment, has studied light from the Earth reflecting off the Moon - Earthshine - to reveal the clues that could tell us whether distant planets have liquid oceans where there might be the potential for the presence of life.
Catalyst will be repeated on ABC2 - Friday, July 17 at 5:30pm