A Japanese commercial spacecraft has sent another close -up at home The image of the moonHis landing destination for a few days, but this picture may play eye tricks.
Tokyo Company Ispace He released a new photo of the stability of his lunar land as he walks on the moon. The photo reveals the rough landscape of the lunar southern pole, a strongly sought after area of NASA And other competitors in space because of their ice within permanently shaded craters. This ice can be valuable for the future space Travel if it can become rocket fuel, oxygen and drinking water.
But some viewers may not see the depicted craters that numb the surface as they are.
“This image presents an optical illusion of some,” says the company in an X.
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Loading Sustainability in Delivery Container
IPACE engineers load the lunar lanker’s resistance in a transport container before sending it to Cape Canaveral, Florida. Credit: ISPACE
Do not be fooled: these are carved immerships, not irregularities. The reason they may look like the last one is embossed inversion Phenomenon – a common problem in interpreting space ship photography. Astronomers have even invented names for him, calling him a “illusion of a crater” or “the illusion of the crater-dome.”
“At first glance, it’s hard to say whether the earth rises, sinks down or a mix of both,” according to European Space AgencyS
The illusion of the crater-dome, explained
The optical illusion arises because people are accustomed to interpreting the shadows as coming from a above ground source of light. But this is not necessarily the orientation of the spacecraft. In many satellite photos, the light source is almost horizontal to the surface. This facilitates the models of light and shade to mislead our brain.
Where sunlight illuminates the slopes south and leaves the northern slopes in the shade, such as many viewers experience the problem as per NASA Earth ObservatoryS For this reason, astronomers often orient satellite images so that the north.
Four months after the start of stability in mid -January, she reached Moon And she flew tours around him, as in preparation for IPACE’s second attempt for lunar landing. The company’s first attempt two years ago failed when its spacecraft exhausted the fuel and crashed On the moon.
The new mission called Hakuto-R is preparing for a touchdown Near the center of the mare Frigoris at 15:24 et on June 5S (It will be June 6 in Japan.) The live cover will start about an hour earlier, at 2:15 pm ET, with English translation.
IPACE Moon Landing Plan
If the Hakuto-R mission lands, it will spend two weeks conducting experiments on the lunar surface before it feeds on the brutally cold moon night. Credit: ISPACE Infographic
Landing on the moon remains heavy – Demonstrated by numerous flop landings. Still Firefly aerospace space succeeded When landing in March, another American company, intuitive machines, also did not manage by finishing from him in a crater less than a week later.
The difficulty arises from The moon’s exospherewhich provides almost no drag to slow down a spacecraft as it approaches the ground. Moreover, there are no GPS systems on the moon to help target his craft at his landing place. Engineers must compensate for these challenges from 239,000 milesS
Whether ISPACE is better positioned for success this time remains to be seen. So far, flight controllers are enjoying the landscape of the spacecraft. And for those who have problems with the assessment of the southern craters of the moon in the new image, ISPACE has advice.
“Turn the image,” said the company, “or tilt your head to change your perspective!”