Proceedings of the Third Lunar Science Conference Vol. 2 : Chemical/Isotopic Analyses

The Third Lunar Science Conference was held under the joint auspices of The Lunar Science Institute and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Houston, Texas, January 1972. Its purpose was to present the research of some 187 principal investigators and over 525 coinvestigators. They were entrusted with the precious lunar rocks and soil samples and were selected with the same exacting care regarding their specific qualifications as were the astronauts themselves. Their research efforts are being pursued in 31 states and in 15 other countries. The research teams report here on samples from five lunar landings—Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15 and Luna 16, the Soviet automated probe—which are revealing the variegated nature of the lunar surface.

The results of experiments conducted or set up on the moon's surface by the astronauts are also described in these volumes. Each Apollo mission has emplaced an ALSEP geophysics package on the lunar surface for long-term observations. Moreover, Apollo 15 further expanded geophysical observations to a global-lunar scale with a complex and sophisticated set of instruments that scanned and photographed the surface from lunar orbit. Papers are included on these recent observations.

The Proceedings are in fact devoted to raising and answering questions covering every phase of lunar science, from broad speculations concerning the entire moon, the history of its development, and the processes that affect it to detailed analysis of minute samples.

The Lunar Science Institute sponsored the publication of these volumes, which contain 228 papers altogether. It is estimated that less than 5 percent of the research results presented in them have been reported in the various journals; the rest of the material is making its first appearance in printed form.