Category Archives: The Moon

Astronomy, Chinese space, The Moon

First images from the UV telescope on Chang’e-3 lander

International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) has been collaborating with

the National Astronomical Observatories -Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) & China National Space Administration (CNSA) to conduct Galaxy Imaging with the Lunar Ultraviolet Telescope aboard the Chang’e-3 lunar lander currently at Sinus Iridum on the lunar surface. In September 2012, ILOA signed a MoU with the NAOC-CAS. This was followed up with a MOU between ILOA and CNSA in August 2013. In exchange for the use of the Chang’e-3 LUT, ILOA will provide observation time to NAOC during its ILO-X and ILO-1 missions.

 – Mission Update January 2014: The start of permanet human operations on the Moon – ILOA.

Today they released for the first time some of the images captured by the LUT on the Chang’e 3 lander : Astronomy from the Moon: ILOA Acquires Exclusive Images from Chang’e-3 Lunar Ultraviolet / Optical Telescope.

Professor Jianyan Wei, principal investigator of the  LUT instrument, indicated that the testing and commissioning phase is complete and all the telescope systems are operating nominally. He reports that the LUT already has captured over 22,000 astronomical images. The 150-mm diameter, near ultraviolet telescope is the payload that has operated the longest and obtained the most data since the 14 December 2013 Moon landing of Chang’e-3.

While the telescope is small and won’t compete with the major UV space observatories, it is still an interesting demo. UV astronomy must be done outside of the earth’s atmosphere and someday UV astronomy might be one of the tasks for a lunar base.

VariableStarObsrvations

Multiple media, Space Science, The Moon

Interactive mosaic of lunar north pole created from NASA LRO images

Check out the interactive map of the lunar north pole created from images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) :

NASA Releases First Interactive Mosaic of Lunar North Pole

Scientists, using cameras aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), have created the largest high resolution mosaic of our moon’s north polar region. The six-and-a-half feet (two-meters)-per-pixel images cover an area equal to more than one-quarter of the United States.

Interactive mosaic from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
A new interactive mosaic from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
covers the north pole of the moon from 60 to 90 degrees north
latitude at a resolution of 6-1/2 feet (2 meters) per pixel.
Close-ups of Thales crater (right side) zoom in to reveal increasing
levels of detail. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

Web viewers can zoom in and out, and pan around an area. Constructed from 10,581 pictures, the mosaic provides enough detail to see textures and subtle shading of the lunar terrain. Consistent lighting throughout the images makes it easy to compare different regions.

“This unique image is a tremendous resource for scientists and the public alike,” said John Keller, LRO project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. “It’s the latest example of the exciting insights and data products LRO has been providing for nearly five years.”

The images making up the mosaic were taken by the two LRO Narrow Angle Cameras, which are part of the instrument suite known as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC). The cameras can record a tremendous dynamic range of lit and shadowed areas.

“Creation of this giant mosaic took four years and a huge team effort across the LRO project,” said Mark Robinson, principal investigator for the LROC at Arizona State University in Tempe. “We now have a nearly uniform map to unravel key science questions and find the best landing spots for future exploration.”

The entire image measures 931,070 pixels square – nearly 867 billion pixels total. A complete printout at 300 dots per inch – considered crisp resolution for printed publications – would require a square sheet of paper wider than a professional U.S. football field and almost as long. If the complete mosaic were processed as a single file, it would require approximately 3.3 terabytes of storage space. Instead, the processed mosaic was divided into millions of small, compressed files, making it manageable for users to view and navigate around the image using a web browser.

LRO entered lunar orbit in June 2009 equipped with seven instrument suites to map the surface, probe the radiation environment, investigate water and key mineral resources, and gather geological clues about the moon’s evolution.

Researchers used additional information about the moon’s topography from LRO’s Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter, as well as gravity information from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, to assemble the mosaic. Launched in September 2011, the GRAIL mission, employing twin spacecraft named Ebb and Flow, generated a gravity field map of the moon — the highest resolution gravity field map of any celestial body.

LRO is managed by Goddard for the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. LROC was designed and built by Malin Space Science Systems and is operated by the University of Arizona. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., managed the GRAIL mission for SMD.

For more information about LRO, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/lro

To access the complete collection of LROC images, visit: http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/

To view the image with zoom and pan capability, visit: http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/gigapan

Space Systems, The Moon

The Space Show today: cis-lunar transportation architectures with Dr. Doug Plata

Doug Plata (www.lunarcots.com) will be on The Space Show today (12-1:30 PM PDT, 3-4:30 PM EDT, 2-3:30 PM CDT) to discuss Cis-lunar transportation architectures. Background docs have been posted on line at  Dr. Doug Plata, Sunday, 3-16-14 – Thespaceshow’s Blog –

Dr. Plata will be discussing Selected Trades for Cis-lunar One Transportation Architecture Concept so prior to our Sunday discusson, I have uploaded Doug’s document, Choices of Selected Trades for the Cis-lunar One Transportation Architecture [pdf]. Both Doug and I ask that you review this document in advance of our Sunday Space Show program as this will form an important part of our discussion.

Contests and Games, Multiple media, The Moon

Video: Trailer for “Back to the Moon for Good”

The Google Lunar XPRIZE has created a Fulldome Planetarium Show titled, Back To The Moon For Good.

In case you haven’t heard, the Moon is trending again… and in a big way. Like in the glory days of the 1960s and 1970s, our big white space neighbor is enjoying the attention of lunar explorers. Only this time, they’re going back to the moon for good.

The educational 24-minute Google Lunar XPRIZE fulldome planetarium show, Back To The Moon For Good, chronicles teams around the world competing for the largest incentivized prize in history, by landing a robotic spacecraft on the Moon for the first time in more than 40 years.

Here is a trailer:

http://youtu.be/pOLRWMOf4jQ

 

Chinese space, Space Systems, The Moon

More on the Jade Rabbit’s ailments + The next Chinese lunar missions

A few more details dribble out regarding the problems tht China’s Yutu (Jade Rabbit) rover is having on the Moon: China Exclusive: Control circuit malfunction troubles China’s Yutu – Xinhua

China’s Yutu (Jade Rabbit) moon rover suffered a control circuit malfunction in its driving unit, which troubled its dormancy in extremely low temperature, a scientist said on Saturday.

The control circuit problem prevented Yutu from entering the second dormancy as planned, Ye Peijian, chief scientist of the Chang’e-3 program, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

“Normal dormancy needs Yutu to fold its mast and solar panels,” said Ye. “The driving unit malfunction prevented Yutu to do those actions.”

The rover is currently in another 2 week long night and will experience extremely low temperatures. The rover has radioisotope heater units (RHUs) to keep its internal systems warm. However, if the rover is not configured properly before a night period starts, e.g. closing panels to keep heat from escaping and putting solar panels in the right orientation, it may have problems powering back up when daylight returns.

[ Update: A discussion of the rover’s problems: You Too, Yutu? – Daily Planet/Air & Space Magazine.]

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Meanwhile, China’s space agency is proceeding with preparations for the Chang’e 4 lunar lander/rover mission in 2015 and the Chang’e 5 sample return mission  in 2017: Preparation for Chang’e-5 launch on schedule – Xinhua.