Screen shot of ‘flying’ around asteroid Vesta in the 3-D mode of NASA’s Vesta Trek online tool. Image credit: NASANASA has announced the release of Vesta Trek, a free, web-based application that provides detailed visualisations of Vesta, one of the largest asteroids in our Solar System.
Exploring the south pole of asteroid Vesta in the 2-D mode of NASA’s Vesta Trek online tool. Image credit: NASANASA’s Dawn spacecraft studied Vesta from July 2011 to September 2012. Data gathered from multiple instruments aboard Dawn have been compiled into Vesta Trek’s user-friendly set of tools, enabling citizen scientists and students to study the asteroid’s features. The application includes:
— Interactive maps, including the ability to overlay a growing range of data sets including topography, mineralogy, abundance of elements and geology, as well as analysis tools for measuring the diameters, heights and depths of surface features and more
— 3-D printer-exportable topography so users can print physical models of Vesta’s surface
— Standard keyboard gaming controls to manoeuvre a first-person visualisation of “flying” across the surface of the asteroid
Applying a geology layer to the 3-D model of Vesta using NASA’s Vesta Trek online tool. Image credit: NASAVesta Trek was developed by NASA’s Lunar Mapping and Modelling Project (LMMP), which provides mission planners, lunar scientists and the public with analysis and data visualisation tools for our Moon, spanning multiple instruments on multiple missions. Vesta Trek represents the first application of LMMP’s capabilities to another world beyond the Moon. LMMP-based portals for other worlds in our Solar System are currently in development.
An example of using the line tool in NASA’s Vesta Trek to determine distance and elevation plotting near the south pole of Vesta. Image credit: NASA“There’s nothing like seeing something with your own eyes, but these types of detailed data-visualisations are the next best thing,” said Kristen Erickson, Director, Science Engagement and Partnerships at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We’re thrilled to release Vesta Trek to the citizen science community and the public, not only as a scientific tool, but as a portal to an immersive experience that, just by the nature of it, will allow a deeper understanding of Vesta and asteroids in general.”
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is continuing its exploration in the asteroid belt, after arriving at the dwarf planet Ceres on March 6th. As Dawn conducts its mapping and measurements of Ceres, LMMP will continue to work closely with the Dawn mission.
In the ten years since its launch from Cape Canaveral, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has orbited the two largest worlds in the asteroid belt and overcome defective components that threatened to derail the mission on its 4 billion-mile voyage, discovering unexpectedly rich geologic tapestries suggesting both destinations have a watery past.
Making its fifth science pass close to Jupiter’s turbulent cloud tops, NASA’s Juno spacecraft sailed by the Solar System’s king planet Friday to collect another treasure trove of data on the giant world’s atmosphere, internal structure, and magnetic field.
A thrilling epoch in the exploration of our solar system came to a close today, as NASA’s Cassini spacecraft made a fateful plunge into the atmosphere of Saturn, ending its 13-year tour of the ringed planet.
