NASA's movie "Tour of the Moon in 4 K" traveling around 4 k high image quality near the distant star "Moon"

It exists in the universe about 38,000 km away from the earthMonthIs a celestial body that can not be reached easily though it is closest to mankind. A spacecraft launched in 2009 to collect information for NASA to perform manned lunar exploration and manned mars explorationLunar · Reconnaissance · Orbiter(LRO) continues to photograph the surface of the moon with a high-performance camera, and based on that image, NASA creates a 4K quality movie "Tour of the Moon in 4K"Is released to the public.

Tour of the Moon in 4K - YouTube


The average diameter of the moon is 3474.3 km. Always on the same side to the Earth, the back side was enveloped for a long time by a mystery, there was also a case that a city legend such as "there is a base of an alien" was made. LRO surveys the surface by orbiting an orbital of 50 km from the surface of such a moon. The installed camera has amazing performance of maximum resolution of 50 cm, so you can capture the expression of the moon very precisely.


The tour of this movie is located on the left edge when seeing the moon from the earthEast of the seaStart from. The triple ring, which is the biggest feature, is thought to be a remnant of the waviness of the surface caused by collision of asteroid-size objects.


In this video, the lunar explorerGRAILOverlaying the gravity distribution data by this is like this. This data will reveal the structure within the crust of the moon and will open the door showing the geological features inside the moon.


The next place of visit is the South Pole of the moon which receives little sunlight and is one of the lowest temperatures in the solar system. Observation data of temperature distribution measurement instrument "DIVINER" installed in LRO and laser altimeter "LOLA", and a spacecraft launched at the same time as LROLCROSSIt is suggested that water may be present in ice state in the part indicated by light blue from the investigation by.


LOLA is also a crater located near the South Pole "Shackleton Crater"It gave us the digital elevation model of. This crater has a size of 21 km in width and 4 km in depth, and the bottom of the crater hardly reaches sunlight "Permanent shadowIt is an area of.


The biggest crater in the month "Antarctic Aitken Basin"Is hidden in this picture. Where is it all together ...?


This white circle area. The width is 2,500 km, the depth is about 9 km compared with the average radius of the moon and it is a huge dent site deeply 13 km deep. Because it is behind the lunar surface, it is thought that an asteroid collided with a huge crater which was not known at all until the lunar surface exploration was done around 1960, but the age of birth is unknown It remains.


The LRO 's sensor makes it possible to investigate the surface of the moon in more detail than ever. 85 km diameter "Tycho Crater"It turns out that there is a mountain in the center.


This mountain has a width of 100 meters at the top of the mountain, but why on earth such a mountain was born in the middle of the crater, its origin remains wrapped in a mystery.


Next time I visited was an area that looks very bright even on the lunar surface and can be checked with a telescope or the naked eye "Aristarchus · Crater".


Aristarchus · crater is a topography suggesting the impact of astronomical collision and volcanic activity, characterized by diverse mineral distribution. Observation with an infrared sensor shows that pyroxene is distributed in the orange part and plagioclase is distributed in the blue part.


The LRO is also looking at places where humanity has already visited. It is in the upper right part toward the moonThe sea of ​​the fine weatherApproaching ... ...


As we go further closer, there is a landing boat off at Apollo 17 'Taurus = Littrow Valley"Is present.


Furthermore, when zooming in, you can see the range of activity of the lunar vehicle "Luna Vehicle" which was carried out for three days.


Zooming in more ......


You can see the lower half of the landing vessel left on the lunar surface after exploration and the appearance of Luna Vehicle.


The last destination of the tour is the North Pole part of the moon. Since the axis of rotation of the moon is about 90 degrees to the sun, in the south pole and the north pole of the moon the sunlight comes only from the horizon. For that reason, the area of ​​"permanent shadow" as in Antarctica is born in the concave area, but on the other hand, in areas where the altitude is high such as the top of the crater, areas where light continues to hit almost always appear.


From the detailed topography observation by LOLA, it is possible to model terrain using computers. We planned to build a "solar power plant" in this polar region that will generate electricity at the time of future lunar activities by finding the part where sunlight always hits in simulation using that data .


Exploration of the moon by mankind is just a beginning stage. It is likely that more data will be gathered from the research using LRO in the future as well as the fact that mankind will actually stay on the moon and stay for a long time.


◆ bonus
Apollo 11 lunar moon landing, contents from the first rocket launch VR experience to the final return of the earth "Apollo 11 VR"Has been released.

Apollo 11 VR | Immersive VR Education
http://immersivevreducation.com/apollo-11-vr/

It is a content that makes it possible to experience a darker experience than any space content in the past due to the immersive feeling unique to VR and the high level of production that the design data of the actual Apollo command ship etc. was used as it was. In particular, in a scene where the landing ship orbiting the moon gradually drops its altitude and enters the landing phase, "I wonder if the moon was so big ... ..." I'm sorry to have a sigh.

Apollo 11 | PSVR | PS4 - YouTube


Apollo 11 VR can be played with Oculus Rift, HTC VIVE, etc.Steam versionYou can play with PlayStation VRPSVR versionHas been released. At the time of article creation, Steam version is 1080 yen, PSVR version is 1400 yen relatively affordable price, so it is recommended for people who want to experience the feeling of scale of the moon.

【PSVR】 "Let's experience lunar landing in VR" Apollo 11 "| Mogura VR - VR / AR / MR in Japan and abroad
http://www.moguravr.com/apollo-11-psvr-2/