The Astrobotic robot heading to Apollo 11 will capture the “magnificent desolation” described by Buzz Aldrin in both high definition video and 3D video – the first planetary robot to accomplish either feat. Twin HD cameras will give armchair explorers back on Earth the opportunity to see the Moon with the clarity and depth perception enjoyed by the 12 astronauts who walked its strange surface.
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The image above is the Earth captured during the Apollo 11 flight combined with a computer-generated image of the Astrobotic robot and spacecraft. The images below show the third prototype design of the robot and the “stack” of rocket motors that will propel it from low Earth orbit toward the Moon and then slow it down upon arrival. To see all the images on this page in stereo, please go to the Astrobotic Store to order your personal 3D glasses. These enable users to see the “anaglyph” images on our site, in which the image for the left eye has been tinted red and the image for the right eye tinted cyan. The red and cyan filters on the glasses let each eye predominantly see only the image intended for that eye.
The Apollo astronauts snapped still photos in stereo, generally by taking an image and then stepping to the left to take its pair. Several of their 3D photographs are shown below.
Other methods of 3D viewing can produce more accurate colors. Gaming systems (for PCs or consoles) can generate alternating left eye views and right eye views 30 to 60 times per second. They must be used with “shutter glasses” with lenses that go opaque for the left and right eyes in synch, so that each eye only sees the images intended for it. In theaters, dual projectors can project both images simultaneously but with different polarizations. Customers wear glasses with left and right lenses polarized to pass only the desired image for each eye.
When the Astrobotic rover roams the lunar surface with its dual cameras, the twin views will be beamed back to Earth where any or all of these methods can produce the 3D effect for viewers.
- Stereo views from the Apollo expeditions drew the attention of these Carnegie Mellon students at a recent showcase event
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[...] an outdated design, though–a video from July (embedded below) as well as Astrobotic’s recent feature on 3D from the Moon give a good look at the current design and the reasons for the [...]