Sunday 27 September 2009

LOLA, Plotting Moon 3D topographical Maps


Although, presently, NASA's funding budgets have gone sour, future safe luna landing sites will be predicated on data collected from LOLA -

"'The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument on board NASA's LRO spacecraft will be responsible for building the highest detail topography currently available of the lunar terrain. In this video David Smith, LOLA's Principal Investigator, explains how this technology works."

With recently clarified proof of  where water on Mars is located, the surface shapes that LOLA mathematically discovers may go a long way to help prevent catastrophic future landing craft, setting down on a boulder and or missing an unforseen puddle!

Nevertheless, I wonder how likely, quagmires of quicksand may also feature on the luna surface ?
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