The Japanese commercial spacecraft sent one more out of close The image of the moonIts desired landing place within a few days, but this photo can play tricks on the eyes.
Tokyo company Ispace Published a new photo from the resistance of the Lunar Earth because it is flying on the moon. Snapshot reveals a strong landscape of the lunar south pole NASA and other cosmic competitors for their ice permanently in shadow craters. That ice could have been A valuable item for the future space Travel if it can be converted into rocket fuel, oxygen and drinking water.
However, some viewers may not see the craters depicted who are as they are.
“This image gives some an optical illusion,” the X. – though the image is filled with concave craters, they may seem to be eye -catching from this orientation. “
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Loading Lander resistance to shipping container
Before transporting it to Canaveral, Florida, engineers for the Lunar Lander resistance to the transport container. Credit: ISPACE
Don’t be mistaken: they are hollow, not bumps. However they may appear as the latter Inversion of terrain The phenomenon is a common problem in interpreting spacecraft photography. Astronomers even created names, calling it a “illusion of a crater” or “Crater-Kupol illusion”.
“At first glance, it is difficult to say whether the ground is rising up, drowning, or the mixture of both,” European Space Agency;
The illusion of Crater-Cupol is explained
The optical illusion is because people are used to interpreting shadows as from the upper light source. But this is not necessarily a spaceship orientation. In many satellite photos, the light source is almost horizontal to the surface. This allows easy and shade models to deceive our brain.
Where sunlight illuminates south slopes and leaves the northern slopes in the shadow, for example, many viewers experience this problem with regard to the problem NASA Land Observatory; As a result, astronomers often focus on satellite images to make the North.
Four months after the start of the mid -January, it reached The moon And since he was getting ready for the second attempt at Ispace to the lunar landing, he flew around it. The first test of the company failed two years ago when its spacecraft ran out of fuel and crashed On the moon.
The new mission, called Hakuto-R, is about to land Near the mare Figeris Center 15:24 p.m. June 5th; (This will be June 6 in Japan.) Livestream coverage will begin about an hour earlier at 2:15 p.m. Et, with English translation.
The Ispace Lunar Landing Plan
If the Hakuto-R mission is landing, it will spend two weeks experimenting with the lunar surface before turning on a brutally cold lunar night. Credit: ISPACE Infographic
Landing on the moon remains heavy – Showed many landings. Still Firefly Aerospace succeeded March on his side In the crater less than a week later.
The difficulty stems from Moon Exosperatewhich almost does not give you to slow down the spacecraft as you approach the ground. In addition, there are no GPS systems on the moon to direct the craft to its landing site. Engineers must compensate those challenges 239,000 miles;
Whether Ispace is better for success, this time you still need to find out. So far, flight controls are enjoying the spacecraft landscape. For those who find it difficult to evaluate the lunar southern craters in the new image, Ispace has advice.
“Turn the image over,” the company said, “or tilt your head to change your attitude!”