NASA recently posted a video simulation that compiled a ton of data from various sources, including the LRO Spacecraft that still orbits our Moon. Given what we know of our closest neighbor, how soon can we get back to visit?
Designed as a sort of realtor’s tour of the Moon, the 4K video features the latest information we have about the moon’s surface, as well as geographic (lunar graphic?) data about the nature of the basins, peaks, and valleys on the surface of the natural satellite.
We get to see the mysterious backside of the moon, a mountain with a strange boulder on its peak, and even the site where the Apollo astronauts first walked.
It’s a barren landscape that the scientists at NASA know intimately. And yet, they need to know more information as they plan the next lunar expedition. They need to know where next to land, the topography of the area, and what may lay underneath the pale surface of the moon.
Watching this video, we get a sense that we are seeing something familiar and yet incredibly alien. The moon traverses the night sky here on earth, and yet we have rarely seen what its sky looks like. Hopefully, NASA will be headed back their soon, and we’ll see even more videos from the surface.
