What's always difficult with Moon landing videos (i.e. also the same with Apollo vids) is how hard it is to get a sense of altitude above the ground. Seeing the horizon helps somewhat, but I think its curvature is exaggerated by the camera lens.
As the lander gets closer and closer to the lunar surface, more and more craters appear that look just like the bigger craters seen from higher up, so it's like a never-ending fractal image.
The Apollo TV images might have been brownish due to the TV quality but the Hasselblad images all show a very grey landscapehttp://www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_gallery.htmlKeith
Quote from: Star One on 12/16/2013 06:32 amThanks for the link & no doubt we'll see Chang'6 as well as its backup. Makes you wonder what Chang'e 7 will be.In addition to previous announcements discussed up in the thread, multiple sources just put out this story toohttp://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/16/us-china-space-idUKBRE9BF03N20131216Quote(Reuters) - China aims to launch its next unmanned lunar probe in 2017, with the key aim of collecting and bringing back lunar samples, an official said on Monday, after the country's first probe landed successfully on the moon over the weekend.The development of the Chang'e 5 probe, tasked with the moon sampling mission, is well underway and it is expected to be launched around 2017, a spokesman for the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense said.Note that a couple days ago there were some possibly misreported stories about Chang'e 5 being put on hold or delayed. Another note, in the morning CCTV live coverage there was a segment with Indian space jouranlists, who mentioned that Chandrayaan-2 could fly in a "year or two", although written reports all refer to "about three years from now"
Thanks for the link & no doubt we'll see Chang'6 as well as its backup. Makes you wonder what Chang'e 7 will be.
(Reuters) - China aims to launch its next unmanned lunar probe in 2017, with the key aim of collecting and bringing back lunar samples, an official said on Monday, after the country's first probe landed successfully on the moon over the weekend.The development of the Chang'e 5 probe, tasked with the moon sampling mission, is well underway and it is expected to be launched around 2017, a spokesman for the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense said.
The Chang'e 3 design is adaptable to sample return is it not?
Quote from: Star One on 12/16/2013 10:46 amThe Chang'e 3 design is adaptable to sample return is it not?Looking at how big is the lander, probably it's just a matter of replacing the rover by the "samples collector", which would be heavier and bigger.I think we should look for Chang'e 4 and 5 designs to figure out the sampler design, if they are already available.
The lunar surface actually shows a range of subtle colours depending on phase angle and composition. Different parental rocks have different tones of grey, and lunar volcanic and impact glasses can be grown, green, or orange.
The difference between Earth and the Moon is that the light curves are significantly shifted by the filtering of the atmosphere. What is "white" on Earth under natural light would not be white under direct unfiltered sunlight.
Yutu's radar started working Sunday night to test the structure of lunar soil, according to Zou."Chang'e-3 will study the Moon's landforms, geological structure, substance, and potentially exploitable resources," he said, adding, "the lander will observe the Earth's plasmasphere through telescopes."
QuoteThe lunar surface actually shows a range of subtle colours depending on phase angle and composition. Different parental rocks have different tones of grey, and lunar volcanic and impact glasses can be grown, green, or orange.Only when you are relatively close up. The general view of the surface from any distance is grey. Not a chocolate brown as in these photos. Did you look at any of the surface photos on the link I posted?
During Apollo the only photos generally available to the public were in mainsteam magazines (Time, Life, Newsweek, Paris Match) and due to print quality in these days, the lunar surface ranged from green through brown. You now have access to these same photos in sites like Kipp Teague's and can see the true colour quality in the properly processed images from the original films.These photos we are seeing now remind me very much of the magazine photos in the 60's. I don't know what type or quality of cameras are aboard and it may be that these are just RAW images which need further processing.
However the Chinese are not noted for releasing high res imagery
QuoteHowever the Chinese are not noted for releasing high res imagery It's a bit early to be making such criticisms. I am sure we will see plenty of good images in the months to come.
The Chang’E-1 data are currently publically available in Planetary Data System (PDS) format through the Lunar Exploration Data Release System (http://159.226.88.59:7779/CE1OutENGWeb/step.jsp).
According to the status report of data publishing, three international organizations among 50 institutes have provided data to this website. They are: International Lunar Observatory (ILO) 2009.3.6 European Space Agency (ESA) 2009.5 Sternberg Astronomical Institute of Moscow State University 2010.3.31
Space exploration is the cause of mankind, not just "the patent" of a certain country. China will share the achievements of its lunar exploration with the whole world and use them to benefit humanity.It is learned that all data obtained by Chang'e-3 will be open to the whole world. China's lunar exploration provides an opportunity for countries dedicated to peaceful use of outer space to advance space technology together.
Congratulations, China, and well deserved! Now go for a manned mission to the Moon; it's the only way NASA's getting a budget increase!
Quote from: AJA on 12/16/2013 06:02 amQuote from: Comga on 12/15/2013 11:28 pmOne thing I don't see is a color reference plaque to aid in color correction and white balance of the images, like we see on the Mars landers. One red flag doesn't help much. When we say colour calibration... what exactly are we going for? To mimic how something will look to the human eye? How is that objective? Also, apart from sensor drift, and different electronic noise etc. - what optical difference exists between the Earth and the moon environment that requires re-calibration once on the moon? A moonwalker would also face these different optical conditions (outside of his helmet i.e.) too .... so are we really calibrating, or distorting?The difference between Earth and the Moon is that the light curves are significantly shifted by the filtering of the atmosphere. What is "white" on Earth under natural light would not be white under direct unfiltered sunlight.
Quote from: Comga on 12/15/2013 11:28 pmOne thing I don't see is a color reference plaque to aid in color correction and white balance of the images, like we see on the Mars landers. One red flag doesn't help much. When we say colour calibration... what exactly are we going for? To mimic how something will look to the human eye? How is that objective? Also, apart from sensor drift, and different electronic noise etc. - what optical difference exists between the Earth and the moon environment that requires re-calibration once on the moon? A moonwalker would also face these different optical conditions (outside of his helmet i.e.) too .... so are we really calibrating, or distorting?
One thing I don't see is a color reference plaque to aid in color correction and white balance of the images, like we see on the Mars landers. One red flag doesn't help much.
Here are some snapshots taken during the descent about 30 or 15 seconds apart.
Quote from: Steven Pietrobon on 12/17/2013 06:35 amHere are some snapshots taken during the descent about 30 or 15 seconds apart.Nice work.Are you able to put into just one image a scale showing size of a crater or distance between two craters?