If we want to identify a permanent human presence on the Moon, we want maps that are more detailed than existing options, some of which date back to the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s. After more than a decade of collaboration between more than 100 researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the latest editions of the lunar topography are being distributed to astronomers and space agencies around the world.
As Nature recently noted, the Geological Atlas of the Lunar Globe includes 12,341 craters, 81 basins, and 17 other rocks discovered on the surface of the Moon, doubling the resolutions of the maps to a scale of 1:2,500,000.
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Although more accurate maps are needed for the spaces near the Apollo landing sites, the U. S. Geological Survey’s original lunar maps controlled a scale of 1:5,000,000. Jianzhong Liu, co-director of the mission and a geochemist at CAS, explained to Nature that “our knowledge of the Moon has become particularly complex and such maps can no longer satisfy the desires for long-term lunar studies and exploration. “
To advise lunar mapping in the 21st century, CAS has relied heavily on ongoing lunar exploration systems in China, adding the Chang’e-1 mission. Starting in 2007, Chang’e-1’s high-powered cameras studied the moon’s surface from orbit for two years along with an interference imaging spectrometer to identify other rocks. Additional knowledge gathered through the Chang’e-3 (2013) and Chang’e-4 (2019) lunar landers helped refine those mapping efforts. International projects such as NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, as well as India’s Chandrayaan-1 probe, have provided even more valuable topographical information.
However, this topographical passage was not an entirely altruistic task. While SAC geophysicist Ross Mitchell described the maps as “a resource for the whole world,” he added that “contributing to lunar science is a profound way for China to assert its forward-looking role. “as a clinical force for decades to come. “
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The U. S. is also far from identifying itself on the Moon: China and Russia hope to do so until the mid-2030s with the structure of a foreign lunar survey station near the Moon’s south pole. Previously promising to be “open to all interested countries and foreign partners,” the U. S. is obviously not among the other ten governments that have lately committed to the project.
China plans to launch its Chang’e-6 robotic spacecraft later this week, which will travel to the far side of the moon on the first of three new missions. In an interview Monday, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson expressed fears about potential lunar resources. war.
“I think it’s not unconscionable for China to say, ‘We’re here. ‘You guys stay out,” Nelson told Yahoo Finance. It would be very unfortunate to take what’s been happening on planet Earth for years, seize a territory and say it’s mine and others are fighting to conquer it. “
But at least the new maps will soon be available to virtually everyone. The Geological Atlas is included in a new CAS book, Map Quadrangles of the Geologic Atlas of the Moon, which also includes 30 more pie charts that provide an even more detailed view. An in-depth look at individual lunar regions. The map’s full resource will soon also be available online to foreign researchers through a cloud platform called Digital Moon.
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