reply to post by SayonaraJupiter
HD TV does not define high resolution imagery. What would define resolution is pixels per inch, centimeter, millimeter, nanometer, and so on.
Resolution requires at least two variables, physical size ie. inch, mili, and so on, and pixels per that measurement. You can't say HI Def, or 300
dpi because that is meaningless without the other variable parameter. High to WHAT!?
The GRAIL mission is a small NASA mission to map the gravitational variations of the moons geology, the MoonKam is but a near end mission addition,
and like Phage said they are but tiny cameras, like in a 7-11 security cam or what you can buy for 80 bucks. Its an outreach program to get young
people involved in the space program, maybe to pay attention more in science classes.
Here's the tiny washing machine sized GRAIL spacecrafts.
Here are the cameras the kids can request viewing areas from.
There is no documented resolution of the cameras that I could find yet but they will have an orbital altitude of as low as 35 miles above the lunar
surface, about as low as the LRO lunar satellite but have less computing and transferring power which also will be using the LRO to transmit images
back to earth, I seriously doubt they will have a greater resolution for this rathe brief mission objective of GRAIL. GRAIL has a mission window of
just 8 months before the sun will disrupt what is is sent to sensor. Photography is os little mission objective, but having school kids suggest areas,
and actually be selected is like one of those MasterCharge ad, priceless.
However the GRAIL is equipped with extremely accurate altimeter sensors that WILL provide a higher surface 3D MAPPING information to also assist with
the below surface mineral detection equipment, and should as far as it covers, provide a better 'Google Moon' surface altitude data than the best so
far which I believe was JAXA's SELENE, by at least 10x. Stay tuned, the kids can point the cameras in March, and the imagery will be posted on the
site Phage linked.
BTW if you want better imagery of specific spots on the moon, GRAIL costs about half a billion, and then you'd have to support larger higher def
cameras, more fuel, and a larger launch heavy lift rocket, which should boost your cost to around a billion dollars for pictures you still will
dispute. So save up or become really good friends with Gates or somebody who might have that money and more importantly, that give a crap.
It's really up to you, what's holding YOU back?