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VOOZH | about |
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VOOZH | about |
The Solar System Treks are online, browser-based portals that allow you to visualize, explore, and analyze the surfaces of other worlds using real data returned from a growing fleet of spacecraft. You can view the worlds through the eyes of many different instruments, pilot real-time 3D flyovers above mountains and into craters, and conduct measurements of surface features. The portals provide exciting capabilities for mission planning, planetary science, and public outreach.
Feature of the Month
NASA Solar System Treks lends itself to the creation of high-quality education and engagement products by our user base. Some representative examples are included below in the form of narrated videos created using Moon Trek by Gary Varney of the online Amateur Astronomy Selenology Project.
You can use the “Experience TrekVR” tool in many of the Trek portals to create your own virtual reality flyovers of terrain that interests you. We’ve also created a list of pre-made VR flyovers of some of the more popular sites to help get you started in your VR explorations. Use your smart phone to scan the QR code associated with each flyover, put your phone in a pair of cardboard-compatible goggles, and start flying. Keep an eye on this page! We’ll be updating it with new flyovers.
These flyovers use data from the Wide Angle Camera aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to provide a broad view of the fascinating geography that led to these sites being selected for the first stages of human exploration on the Moon. For each site, we provide a screenshot map from Moon Trek showing the flyover path marked in yellow and a red X marking the landing site. We also include a QR code or browser link for you to use in viewing the flyover.
In January 2018, NASA conducted a workshop to discuss and identify potential future landing sites on the Moon for future missions. For more information see https://lunar-landing.arc.nasa.gov. Here are VR flyovers for some of the highlighted sites. For each site, we provide a screenshot map from Moon Trek showing the flyover path marked in yellow. We also include a QR code or browser link for you to use in viewing the flyover.
From the solar system’s tallest mountain to its deepest canyon, Mars is a world of epic landforms. We explore some of them here. For each site, we provide a screenshot map from Mars Trek showing the flyover path marked in yellow. We also include a QR code or browser link for you to use in viewing the flyover.
Vesta is the second most massive object in the asteroid belt, after the dwarf planet Ceres. It is considered to be a protoplanet, a kind of planet embryo and an example of one of the building blocks for larger planets. Its shape is not at all spherical, after massive impacts by smaller asteroids blasted away much of the southern part of the world. Vesta was studied in detail by NASA’s Dawn robotic spacecraft. For each site, we provide a screenshot map from Vesta Trek showing the flyover path marked in yellow. We also include a QR code or browser link for you to use in viewing the flyover.
Located within the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, the dwarf planet Ceres measures 945 km across. Ceres seems to have a rocky core surrounded by a thick mantle of ice (and perhaps even some liquid water, beneath a crust rich in clay and carbonates. There are many signs of active geology on Ceres. The role of lava on Ceres was played by water, erupted as liquid from below and building mountains of ice. Ceres was studied in detail by NASA’s Dawn robotic spacecraft. For each site, we provide a screenshot map from Vesta Trek showing the flyover path marked in yellow. We also include a QR code or browser link for you to use in viewing the flyover.
Mercury is the smallest and innermost of the major planets in our Solar System. Its close proximity to the Sun results in scorching daytime temperatures of 700 degrees Kelvin. Yet permanently-shadowed craters near the pole contain deposits of ice! In some ways, the surface of Mercury resembles that of our Moon. But Mercury also has many unique and spectacular landforms. Using data from NASA's MESSENGER mission, which studied Mercury from orbit in 2011-2015, we will explore some of these amazing features. For each site, we provide a screenshot map from Vesta Trek showing the flyover path marked in yellow. We also include a QR code or browser link for you to use in viewing the flyover.
Impact cratering is one of the primary processes shaping planetary surface landforms throughout the Solar System. That includes the surface of the Earth. Understanding the nature of impacts and the craters that they produce is an essential component of introductions to geoscience for K-12 students. However, since impact craters on Earth tend to be eroded relatively quickly, students are often not optimally familiar with these landforms and the forces behind them. In or-der to introduce key concepts of impact science, the American Geosciences Institute and the NASA Solar System Treks Project have collaborated to produce “Investigating Impacts”, classroom lesson and activities for grades 5-12.
Virtual Reality
Have Google Cardboard or a set of VR goggles? Open the Tools panel to draw a path to float along with full 360 views, or get started with some of our favorite fly-alongs in our Virtual Reality Library. If you are unfamiliar with QR codes, watch the short video below to see how it works with Trek Virtual Reality.
Currently not available in Titan or Icy Moons Trek.
3D Printing
Pick a feature or area that you would like to 3D print, and we'll give you the file! A few of the portals - Bennu, Ceres, Ryugu, and Vesta - have pre-generated 3D print files of the entire globe. Just go to the Menu situated in the top-right corner of the Trek portal and select "Download 3D Globe Print File(s)".
3D Visualization
Explore the Moon, Mars, and Vesta in 3D. Spin our moon, the Red Planet or the huge asteroid around its axis, orient it whichever direction you want, and approach from any angle. Change the projection or view by clicking the globe or '3D' button located at the bottom-left of any Trek.
Calculate Distance
Draw a straight line, a polyline, or freehand your own proposed rover traverse, and we'll give you the distance. It may look tiny on the map, but you'll be amazed how huge (or small) these celestial bodies are. Draw your line, polyline, or freehand polyline and let us do the calculation.
Calculate Elevation
Draw a line, polyline, or freehand polyline and see how the elevation changes. We extract the elevation profile from a digital elevation model (DEM) of the terrain and give you the results in an interactive graph. If you would like to see numbers in a convenient format, simply export the elevation profile to a .csv file.
Note: The GIF shows an older version of our elevation profiler. The current one, which you can access on the respective Trek sites, works in the same way AND has a nifty zoom feature. Try it out and let us know what you think in the Feedback link below.
Calculate Sun Angle
Select 'Calculate Sun Angle' from the Tool menu then place your marker. Choose the start and end dates and times, set your interval and submit. (The default interval is set to 50 and will display 50 data points interspersed equally between the start and end time. The lower the number, the less accurate the results because the less frequent the readings.) The results are given in a graph showing the Elevation and Azimuth of your placed marker to the sun.
Trek Map Services
Most of the map layers shown from Treks are available through OGC RESTful Web Map Tile Service (WMTS). Through this service, you can display map layers from Treks on your software system. Read through our documentation at WMTS Layer Services.
