Saturday, July 04, 2009

First Images: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter


That's right, old school - we're going back to the moon!

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter sent its first images back to Earth after activating its cameras June 30, 2009.

The LRO has both a low-resolution wide-angle camera and a high-resolution camera. These shots were taken at the boundary between night and day, capturing shadows that exaggerate the terrain. Though the surface appears very rough, it is actually similar to the highland area where Apollo 16 landed and explored with a rover.

The LRO will get as close as 19 miles above the surface, but will spend most of its mission 31 miles up.

These pictures were taken to calibrate the cameras.

Read the rest and check out more images over at WIRED

That's Right,

HMK

Images: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University