English: Describing (this picture), THOMAS GOLD, Director, Cornell University's Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, said: "The sharp cut in the lunar surface material directly underneath Surveyor I was caused during the landing by a thin heat shield, which cut into the soil as a cookie cutter would. When the springing of Surveyor's legs restored the spacecraft to its normal height, the 'cookie cutter' was withdrawn.

"The picture demonstrates," said Gold, "that the material is fine grained and cohesive to the extent that it can be cut and leave a vertical face. Clumps thrown out at impact are clearly visible, so it is a crumbly, crunchy surface.

"A dry material in vacuum has such properties only if it is composed of particles mostly smaller than 0.01 millimeter. A coarser aggregate, like sand, would slide and leave only incline slopes, never vertical ones.

"The picture strengthens the case that the porous overlay known to cover most of the Moon consists of cohesive, fine rock dust, and not either sand or solid, bubbly lava."