The Moon in Google Earth

Apollo 15 landing site in Google Earth

As anticipated, a 3D model of the Moon has been added to Google Earth on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing. (See also Google Earth Blog.) Features include all kinds of content for the Apollo missions as well as terrain data and imagery from more recent surveys. I’m struck, actually, by how more fulsome the content seems for Mars; in the 37 or so years since human beings were last on the Moon, we don’t seem to have generated that much in terms of new content. Many areas are not in high resolution. I’m hopeful that imagery from the LRO and other new probes (SELENE videos are already there) will make a strong showing here (imagery from the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project wouldn’t be unwelcome, either). More Moon, please.

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