Moonscapes

Went for a nice quick run this morning - I've found that one benefit of urban running is the spikes in adrenaline that come with dodging cars, cyclists, and pedestrians. Keeps things interesting. I also have the tendency to chase pigeons. There's something rather smug about the way the waddle just outside of your path to wait for you to pass, so I think I'm helping them from an evolutionary point of view by sometimes making them use their wings to fly away. Otherwise, the pigeons of tomorrow could well be hunks of feathers that waddle around our ankles. Think about it.

Anyway, the search is on for a landing site for the next moon landing, which is supposed to go down by 2020. Landing site selection is a fascinating process. For one thing, it starts long before most people are aware there's even a mission. You've got to go from an entire planet of possible sites to one location a few square kilometers in size. Along the way, a lot of great science comes out of it, because the process essentially is ranking or prioritizing sites by scientific merit. One location might be promising for a particular type of science while another could be better suited for a different objective. Also, by looking so closely at certain areas, you're likely to see new geologic phenomena that have been missed in the past.

Take the moon for example. This latest batch of images (see below for an example) targets the south pole region where water ice may hide in crater shadows. They are 50 times more detailed than previous images of the same area, and reveal remarkable topography - mountains more than 20,000 feet high and canyons more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. Lunar science excites some people more than others, but it's hard to argue that the views would be stunning.