Old Moon Images Get Modern Makeover, Fox
Old Moon Images Get Modern Makeover, LiveScience
"Dennis Wingo, LOIRP's team leader, detailed the group's work in progress during last week's 40th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Teamed with SpaceRef.com, LOIRP's saga is one of acquiring the last surviving Ampex FR-900 machinery that can play analog image data from the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft. Wingo noted that the work is backed by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, the space agency's Innovative Partnership Program, along with private organizations, making it possible to overhaul old equipment, digitally upgrade and clean-up the imagery via software. LOIRP is located at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. There, project members are taking the analog data, converting it into digital form and reconstructing the images. By moving them into the digital domain, Wingo said, the photos now offer a higher dynamic range and resolution than the original pictures, he added. "We're going to be releasing these to the whole world," Wingo said. Use of the refreshed images, contrasted to what NASA's upcoming Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission is slated to produce, has an immediate scientific benefit. That is, what is the frequency of impacts on the Moon's already substantially crater-pocked surface? "We'll be able to get crater counts," Wingo told SPACE.com. "LRO imagery of the same terrain imaged decades ago will provide a crater count over the last 40 years."
Comments (5)
Guys, I have to say, having watched the news feed through Google over the past week, the amount of ones and zeros (and ink, too) devoted to LOIRP has been sensational. It's quite a story, with legs (and boulders).
Thanks for your dedication and with providing us with a benchmark mission, a re-do of the LO series, and teaching a lot of people a lesson about perishable data.
Salute!
Posted by Joel Raupe | March 31, 2009 4:13 PM
Posted on March 31, 2009 16:13
Gents,
To learn that some of this original information might be retrieved is marvellous news. I have just read First Man, Neil Armstrong's biography, so this project has extra meaning. They were such interesting times, how I miss that sense of enthusiasm and sense of discovery. Good luck in the quest.
Posted by Barry Sheridan | April 1, 2009 11:32 AM
Posted on April 1, 2009 11:32
Keith: I am interested in learning more about original B&W contact images from 1967 mapping missions. I have an opportunity to own one of these images but other than being an avid collector of photography this is new territory for me. Would you be willing to help out or point me in the right direction? Thanks
Posted by Andrew Kessler | April 2, 2009 3:57 PM
Posted on April 2, 2009 15:57
Andrew
Sorry that I have not responded earlier. What is the image that you are going for? There is a lot of good lunar orbiter stuff out there. However, if you want the latest stuff, it will be available for download....or, we can make them for you. Would you buy something like that if it was reasonably priced?
Dennis
Posted by Dennis Wingo | April 15, 2009 11:05 AM
Posted on April 15, 2009 11:05
You may want to talk to the Eastman House in Rochester, NY. They have in their collection one of the flight cameras that didn't need to be sent, since the camera was developed by Kodak for NASA. Knowing the type of scanner may help you do better defect reduction on the resultant images.
Posted by Rowan Hawkins | April 18, 2009 4:18 AM
Posted on April 18, 2009 04:18