Really enjoyed this episode of Space Junk. A lot of resources and things to explore looking at the moon and other bodies. Did a bit of a dive on this and ended up looking Moon Trek for about an hour when I really should’ve been doing other stuff. Moon Trek as far as I can see is a NASA browser that allows you to really investigate the surface moon but also a whole lot more. You can zoom in and see where the Apollo landers have been and even additionally awesome factors of being able to reproduce 3D prints STL&OBJ files) of any terrain that you can ‘box’ using this software. You can also select areas to create virtual reality images and wander around your selected area using real data. Definitely check out this podcast.
Whilst listening to the podcast, it also came to light about lunar activity happening as early as the end of this year (!), with the tech firm Intuitive Machines negotiating with Space X about launces this and next year. In my mind Artemis still seems a long way but with the tech coming from independent companies – there’s more options on the table and consequently more things happening sooner. Brian represents the collaborative nature of how human endeavors in space will work. It really only can be that way either with companies or countries. Hopefully its a sign of better relations between countries who have historically not seen eye to eye. China and Russia collaboration reported by the New York Times.
Also check out Viper – Nasa’s lunar Rover prospecting for water on the moon. that’s amazing.
And definitely need to book in the the virtual NASA 2021 exploration science forum – In July and online.
Screen shot of the Martian surface using https://trek.nasa.gov/
