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VIRTUALISATION Thanks to India, U.S.: The 3D Moon
VIRTUALISATION Thanks to India, U.S.: The 3D Moon | Thanks to India, U.S.: The 3D Moon |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Wednesday, 31 December 2008 | |
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The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the national space agency of India, is currently orbiting its Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft about 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the surface of the Moon. “Chandrayaan" is translated to “journey to the moon.” It is the first Indian spacecraft to orbit the Moon. But, that is not what is perking the interest of planetary astronomers around the world. The ISRO, along with the U.S. space agency NASA, announced that the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft has begun to take three-dimensional images of the Moon—the first 3D images of the lunar surface. NASA has its Moon Mineralogy Mapper (MMM, or M3) onboard the Indian spacecraft in order to provide sophisticated mineral-composition images of the lunar surface, such as pyroxene, a mineral consisting of iron. The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory website “PIA11727: NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper” provides the first 3D image from the M3 instrument onboard Chandrayaan-1. One image shows pyroxene, which shows up with a green color. Another image shows heat (thermal) emission from the Moon. Page two describes features of M3, along with the location on the Moon (Mare Orientale) where the first 3D images were taken. |
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