The Eskey System
Lunar quadrangles
My methodology extends the idea of a rover traverse from a route on a planetary surface to a map with a network of roads and locations that can be identified in a way that parallels post roads on earth. It is general and extensible and can be applied to any planetary body that has named quadrangles and is conducive to manned surface exploration.
Specifically, the Eskey System uses 30 1:2,500,000 and 1:5,000,000 scale quads on the Moon and Mars as regional names. Although some of the 141 1:1,000,000 scale charts also have names, the address framework only uses the numerical identifiers. The Mars quadrangles were first charted and named by USGS in 1973 under JPL Contract W0-8122 during the Apollo era. The lunar quadrangles were named by USGS in the early 2000s, and recently charted and named by China in 2022. We are using the USGS quads.
Quadrangles define regions on planetary bodies, but only a small subset have been named. The name is essential for my framework in that it defines the equivalent of a “city” or a “state.” The numerical astronomical charts are the equivalent of a “zip code.” A planetary address is a numerical identifier + a named planetary road + a named quadrangle + a numerical astronomical chart + the planetary body.
Lunar Astronomical Charts
Here is an example of a lunar address at Mare Tranquillitatis, where Neil Armstrong made history as the first man to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission:
11 Neil Armstrong Bridge, Mare Tranquillitatis, LAC-60, The Moon
Click on the video below to watch Dave Scott, Commander of the Apollo 15 mission, cancel a stamp on the Moon. To me, his postcard shown above looks quite bare without an address and a message, but of course, the Eskey System didn't exist in 1971, when I was only 10 years old. If you could write a message to humanity during the Apollo era, what would you say?
I would say, "Don't stop." But sadly, NASA did stop, and Apollo 17 was the last manned mission to the Moon, after Apollos 18 - 20 were cancelled.
