In 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to step foot on the Moon. Since then, scientists have continued to study the Moon through a series of missions involving landers, rovers, and orbiters. In 2009, NASA launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, which has given us unprecedented data and insights into our nearest celestial neighbor.
This video from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio uses data captured by the LRO to produce a highly detailed map of the Moon. It tours several notable lunar locations (including the far side of the Moon that never faces Earth) in crisp 4K resolution.
For example, you can see the lander and rover from the Apollo 17 mission in the Taurus-Littrow Valley. You can even detect the parallel tracks of the rover where it traversed the surface. In Tycho Crater, the video zooms in to reveal a 100-meter-wide boulder in the central peak. It’s an astonishing level of detail for an object that is more than 230,000 miles away from Earth.
But as the video shows, the LRO captures more than just high-resolution imagery. Its sensors also measure mineral composition, elevation, free-air gravity, and potential water ice. These datasets can help us better understand the geologic features beneath the Moon’s surface. Or the best place to site solar panels that could power a future mission on the Moon. Understanding the Moon and the processes that shaped it helps us to better understand other objects in our solar system.
For all the insights it reveals about the Moon, this map also shows something about the people on Earth. In just six decades, humanity has achieved remarkable advancements in space exploration and science. Imagine what else we’ll learn about our nearest neighbor in the next 60 years.
More to Explore
- Learn more about tidal locking and why the same side of the Moon always faces Earth.
- Take a deep dive into a map of lunar craters.
- Tour a 3D map of Mars.
