New tool allows you to see the moon from Earth like never before!

“The road is paved for a new planetary radar.” After a successful test, possibility Capture objects from near Earth space with very high accuracy. National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO(Y The Green Bank Observatory)GBOThey are the heroes of this feat.

The NRAO reported that the Green Bank telescope was outfitted by the Raytheon for Intelligence and Space With New space monitoring transmitter with radar signal. “Raytheon radar technologies could ultimately improve our ability to explore the Solar System,” says Stephen Wilkinson, the lead engineering researcher.

This advance will allow very sharp images of space objects in the solar system far away from Neptune, and even asteroids to be studied.

Now you can see in detail where the Apollo 15 landed in 1971. After two years of countless tests, I was able to capture unprecedented contours of the moon. In fact, small objects up to 5 meters away were clearly visible.

Functions of the new planetary radar system

Greenbank Telescope It is the largest radio telescope in the world And it has a basic feature: It is fully adjustable, Giving you a wide range of visibility. The test broadcast that was broadcast last November succeeded in completely reversing the radio signal as Apollo 15 landed on the moon.

Very long basic array (VLBA) From NRAO, is the network of monitoring stations Responsible for this job. It consists of antennas distributed in ten stations in the United States that operate as a single unit. After each antenna captures the signals, they are amplified, digitized and recorded.

With the information gathered during the last test, it will be possible to take it A plan to develop a 500 kilowatt high-power radar system. Through this, images of objects in “near” space will be obtained with a high degree of accuracy and sensitivity, according to the authors of the project. The signals can reach the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, yes, with the highest radar performance. I accomplished this, The solar system will be understood in greater depth.

See the moon up close

In the radar image, the strange characteristics of the Apollo 15 landing area are detailed, and among them, something not seen in 50 years, when astronauts David Scott and James Irwin took pictures of the famous ship. Hadley Reel, a deep rocky canyon that may have been a lava tube.

At the end of the 1950s, with the launch of the first lunar probes, the selenographic maps were perfected, and this was an important advance for science. Pictures taken, It was of low resolution and did not cover much of the moon’s surface: Polar regions are very poorly represented due to insufficient information.

With the help of the latest automatic probes, such as the Clementine or Lunar Prospector, many secrets of lunar geography have been revealed. But there is still a lot to discover … which is why the Planetary Radar System will be launched.