Home > Oceanus Procellarum

Oceanus Procellarum, Latin for "Ocean of Storms", is a vast lunar mare on the western edge of the near side of Earth's Moon. Its name derives from the old superstition that its appearance during the second quarter heralded bad weather. Procellarum is the largest of the lunar maria, stretching 2500 kilometers across its north-south axis and covering roughly 4,000,000 km².

Like all lunar maria, Oceanus Procellarum was formed by ancient basaltic flood volcanic eruptions that covered the region in a thick, nearly flat layer of solidified magma. Unlike the other lunar maria, however, Procellarum is not contained within a single well-defined impact basin (although much of it is within the Procellarum Basin ). Around its edges lie many minor bays and seas, including Mare Nubium and Mare Humorum to the south. To the northeast, Oceanus Procellarum is separated from Mare Imbrium by the Carpathian Mountains.

The unmanned lunar probes Surveyor 1Surveyor 1 was the first lunar lander in the American Surveyor program that explored the Moon. Launched May 30, 1966; landed June 2, 1966 Weight on landing: 596 lb (270 kg) A total 11,237 images were transmitted to Earth. The successful soft landing (firs, Surveyor 3Surveyor 3 was the third lunar lander of the Surveyor program that explored the Moon. Launched April 17, 1967; landed April 20, 1967 Weight on landing: 625 lb (283 kg) Surveyor 3 landed on the Oceanus Procellarum. A total of 6,315 images were transmitted, Luna 9Luna 9 was an unmanned space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna program. On February 3, 1966 the Luna 9 spacecraft was the first spacecraft to achieve a lunar soft landing and to transmit photographic data to Earth. The automatic lunar station that achiev and Luna 13Luna 13 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 13. The Luna 13 spacecraft was launched toward the Moon from an earth-orbiting platform and accomplished a soft landing on December 24, 1966, in the region of Oceanus Procellarum landed in Oceanus Procellarum. Apollo 12Apollo 12 was the sixth manned mission in the Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. Crew Charles Conrad (3), commander Richard Gordon (2), command module pilot Alan Bean (1), lunar module pilot Mission Parameters Mass CSM 28,838; LM 15,235 kg also landed in Oceanus Procellarum.