Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter view of the Moon
March 17th 2011 11:59
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Topographical Moon Map imaged in ultraviolet light
With NASA not going to the Moon anytime soon well at least not on a manned flight what are the alternatives.
The only other alternative is sending Lunar probe, while it’s not like getting a real hands on approach like you would from a human perspective.
For the short term Lunar probes it will have to be if we are going to learn more about the Moon.
With a number of past Apollo missions what’s is there to learn about?
While we now know a lot more about our closest neighbor were not sure how the Moon evolved.
Our Moon contains most of the same materials as Earth this was due partly in the way the moon was created when a large-planet sized object collided with Earth and the resulting debris eventually formed the Moon.
Unlike the Earth the Moon has very little atmosphere to the most part it is unprotected. The Moon is at the mercy of passing meteors asteroids and other passing debris.
LRO image of a Plato
As the result the Moon’s surface is pitted and scared. The Moon was struck much more frequently just after the Moon was formed. The heat generated by the massive impacts caused lava to flow and then cool to form the vast plains we call “seas”.
CURRENT MOON
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has provided more valuable data; this data will help construct a better lunar map.
The spacecraft's has seven instruments and has processed and stored more than 192 terabytes of data with an unprecedented level of detail. It would take approximately 41,000 typical DVDs to hold the new LRO data set.
The information collected by the LRO will help identify surface water-ice deposits, especially in permanently-shadowed regions of the moon. This latest reconnaissance includes new maps imaged in the ultraviolet light spectrum. The ultraviolet imaging will help locate deep water-ice and other data.
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