NASA Spacecraft Reveals Moon As Never Before

NASA Spacecraft Reveals Moon As Never Before

A spacecraft that mapped the lunar surface in unprecedented detail has been declared a resounding success, one that "forever changed our view of the moon," NASA announced today (June 21).

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has sent back to Earth enough information on the moon to fill 41,000 DVDs and is still going strong, taking photos and topographic measurements as it cruises just 30 miles (50 kilometers) above the lunar surface.

LRO launched in June 2009 with two main goals. In the probe's first year, NASA used it to scout the lunar surface for future exploration missions. In year two, the spacecraft shifted into a general science mode to investigate some of the lasting mysteries of the moon.

FoxNews Coverage -
NASA Probe Beams Home Best Moon Map Ever

"Our new topographic view of the moon provides the dataset that lunar scientists have waited for since the Apollo era," said Mark Robinson of Arizona State University, principal investigator of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC), in a statement Thursday (Nov. 17).

"We can now determine slopes of all major geologic terrains on the moon at 100-meter scale, determine how the crust has deformed, better understand impact crater mechanics, investigate the nature of volcanic features and better plan future robotic and human missions to the moon," Robinson added.

The new map was created using thousands of pictures acquired by the Wide Angle Camera, part of the LROC imaging system. The Wide Angle Camera maps nearly the entire moon every month from LRO's average altitude of 30 miles (50 kilometers), building up a record of how the lunar surface looks under varying lighting conditions.

NASA launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2009 on a $504 million mission to map the moon in unprecedented detail. The spacecraft is about the size of a Mini Cooper car and carries seven instruments to study the lunar surface.

In addition to its mapping role, the spacecraft has also spotted several historic artifacts of moon exploration, including NASA's Apollo landers and the boot prints left behind by moon-walking astronauts during the six manned lunar landings between 1969 and 1972.


Read more: www.foxnews.com...

Click links for remainder of both articles
LRO Project Site

NASA website - LRO moon topographical map - Puts google Earth to shame

This new topographic map, from Arizona State University in Tempe, shows the surface shape and features over nearly the entire moon with a pixel scale close to 100 meters (328 feet). A single measure of elevation (one pixel) is about the size of two football fields placed side-by-side.

“Our new topographic view of the moon provides the dataset that lunar scientists have waited for since the Apollo era,” says Mark Robinson, Principal Investigator of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) from Arizona State University in Tempe. “We can now determine slopes of all major geologic terrains on the moon at 100 meter scale. Determine how the crust has deformed, better understand impact crater mechanics, investigate the nature of volcanic features, and better plan future robotic and human missions to the moon.”

Called the Global Lunar DTM 100 m topographic model (GLD100), this map was created based on data acquired by LRO’s WAC, which is part of the LROC imaging system. The LROC imaging system consists of two Narrow Angle Cameras (NACs) to provide high-resolution images, and the WAC to provide 100-meter resolution images in seven color bands over a 57-kilometer (35-mile) swath.

The WAC is a relatively small instrument, easily fitting into the palm of one’s hand; however, despite its diminutive size it maps nearly the entire moon every month. Each month the moon's lighting has changed so the WAC is continuously building up a record of how different rocks reflect light under different conditions, and adding to the LROC library of stereo observations.

The LROC (WAC) has a pixel scale of about 75 meters (246 feet), and at the average altitude of 50 km (31 miles) a WAC image swath is 70 km (43 miles) wide across the ground-track. Since the equatorial distance between orbits is about 30 km (18 miles) there is complete overlap all the way around the moon in one month. The orbit-to-orbit WAC overlap provides a strong stereo effect. Using digital photogrammetric techniques, a terrain model can be computed from the stereo overlap.

LRO Images

It looks like NASA had some issues with the LRO moon image program and had to revuilkd some of it to make it functional again. Either way I thought I would post the updated info for people to keep track of. When the system comes back up the photos should be awesome.

Wow, resolution to 100 feet! For most of the moons' surface!

This should either quieten a lot of the "we never set foot on the moon because we were warned off" brigade or give us some excellent moonbase pics!

Either way I am looking forward to seeing some images.

Nice find.

There were no "issues" with LROC. This is not talking about new images. It is about a higher resolution digital elevation model (DEM) than has been available before.

Imagery from the NAC camera has much higher resolution than the DEM which was produced with images from the WAC camera and data from the laser altimeter.

There is also already a thread about this.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Timely


It's 100 meters, not feet..
At that resolution all you'll see is landscapes..

I don't know why they say better than Google Earth though I have seen pics from the LRO with 50cm/pixel resolution..
I doubt that's any better than google either..

reply to post by ipleadthe5th

The only one who said anything about Google Earth was the OP and he, like you seems to have misunderstood what the article is talking about. It is not imagery, it is elevation (topographic) data.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by ipleadthe5th

 

The only one who said anything about Google Earth was the OP and he, like you seems to have misunderstood what the article is talking about. It is not imagery, it is elevation (topographic) data.

It was actually the name of one of their links though I know they can change that..
That link isn't working for me so I can't see if the link says anything about Google..

I was addressing the OP though, so I can't see what your issue with me is..

reply to post by ipleadthe5th

No issue. Just clarification of what seemed to be a misunderstanding of the content.

Originally posted by Timely
Wow, resolution to 100 feet! For most of the moons' surface!

This should either quieten a lot of the "we never set foot on the moon because we were warned off" brigade or give us some excellent moonbase pics!

Either way I am looking forward to seeing some images.

Nice find.

Actually = its a lot better -

LROC also has two higher-resolution cameras, which have photographed much of the lunar surface at 1.5 feet ( 0.5 m) per pixel. With such detailed views, researchers can see interesting features on the moon, such as odd natural bridges. And they can spot the marks that humanity has left behind.

"We can actually see where the [Apollo] astronauts walked, where they placed their scientific instruments and where they drove the rovers that they had taken with them," Wargo said

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by ipleadthe5th

 

No issue. Just clarification of what seemed to be a misunderstanding of the content.

I just got into the link and yes, it doesn't mention Google..

Not really sure why the OP felt the need to throw that bit in, especially since most know it's ridiculous..

reply to post by Phage


Sorry this is what I was referring to -

Source

LRO Status Update

11.17.11: Engineers successfully restored the non-functioning LRO reaction wheel and reintroduced it into the attitude control system. An investigation into the anomaly continues.

Previous update: On August 23 the LRO Mission Operations Team discovered a failure in one of the four on-board reactions wheels. The spacecraft can operate with three reaction wheels. The spacecraft autonomously adjusted to the loss of the wheel without further incident. Science acquisition was not interrupted.

The reaction wheels are used to orient the spacecraft and enable fine pointing of the instruments to targets on the moon. The operations team has optimized the attitude control system for operation using three reaction wheels.

This is not my area of expertise. My bad.

reply to post by ipleadthe5th


At any point, BackinBlack, are you ever going to engage in a topic and actually participate instead of coming and and whining and complaining all the time?

I really dont think you of all people should be critiquing motives when you get your account banned (BackinBlack), and then lie to create a second account to continue your crap.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by ipleadthe5th

 

The only one who said anything about Google Earth was the OP and he, like you seems to have misunderstood what the article is talking about. It is not imagery, it is elevation (topographic) data.

I didnt misunderstand anything. The google Moon comment is on the second post follow up article talking about capabilities and was my comment added into the link. Is the observation incorrect?

Originally posted by Xcathdra

Originally posted by Timely
Wow, resolution to 100 feet! For most of the moons' surface!

This should either quieten a lot of the "we never set foot on the moon because we were warned off" brigade or give us some excellent moonbase pics!

Either way I am looking forward to seeing some images.

Nice find.

Actually = its a lot better -

LROC also has two higher-resolution cameras, which have photographed much of the lunar surface at 1.5 feet ( 0.5 m) per pixel. With such detailed views, researchers can see interesting features on the moon, such as odd natural bridges. And they can spot the marks that humanity has left behind.

"We can actually see where the [Apollo] astronauts walked, where they placed their scientific instruments and where they drove the rovers that they had taken with them," Wargo said

I was impressed with the image I found in your link showing the lunar explorer's tracks ( failed to see any footprints though). Phage has alluded to topography, which does not bode well for clear - up close imagery, what can we expect?

Click here for more information.

reply to post by Xcathdra

I said it "seemed" you misunderstood. When you say this:

It looks like NASA had some issues with the LRO moon image program and had to revuilkd some of it to make it functional again. Either way I thought I would post the updated info for people to keep track of. When the system comes back up the photos should be awesome.

I can't guess what "revuilkd" was supposed to be but yes, it appears that you did misunderstand. The "system" wasn't down and high resolution imagery (not the topographic elevation data) from the NAC (which Google does make use of) has been available for some time.

The article is not talking about "photos", it is talking about the terrain model, the shape of the ground, the depth of the craters, the heights of the mountains, the steepness of the slopes.

thats nnniiicceee!

i cant wait for our civilization to get galactic!

reply to post by Phage


"Rebuild"

I dont think I misunderstood anything so thats fine.

The portion I quoted above refers to the higher reolution cameras being able to view down to the 1.5 feet.


REspects

reply to post by Xcathdra

are you ever going to engage in a topic and actually participate instead of coming and and whining and complaining all the time?

You purposely altered this link to include, "Puts Google Earth to shame"
www.nasa.gov...

Am I not allowed to question that??

The best useable pics LROC took were at 50cm/pixel..
I have seen far better pics of my own house on Google Earth..

Not sure why you felt the need to alter the link but you did.

reply to post by Xcathdra

Ok.
And yes, the photos are pretty awesome.