On November 7, Japan’s SELENE spacecraft captured this high-definition image of Earth rising over the Moon’s north pole. JAXA/NHK
If prime-time television, National Geographic specials, and sports programming don’t get you pumped for seeing TV at the highest-possible resolution, then what else is there? Television may not be the “vast wasteland” it once was claimed to be, but you could make a good case that seeing incredible detail in TV’s moving images isn’t worth the exorbitant cost. Check that — even I could make a decent case against HDTV.
But I’m much less likely to do so now that I’ve seen what HDTV can deliver. At this week’s 39th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Japanese scientists proudly displayed high-definition video of the Moon taken by their SELENE spacecraft. SELENE — short for SELenological and ENgineering Explorer — has three main objectives: globally survey the Moon to research its origin and evolution, apply the data to possible future utilization of the Moon, and public outreach.
To satisfy the final objective, SELENE carries a high-definition television camera. The spacecraft reached the Moon in October and began normal operations in December. As of mid-February, the HDTV camera had returned 50 videos, showing everything from lunar craters, mountains, and maria to the still-enigmatic polar regions. Each video segment compresses 8 minutes of flight time into 1 minute. Watching them on a big-screen TV takes your breath away, and gives the feeling of being on a spacecraft orbiting the Moon.
To people like me who grew up in the 1960s, following every Apollo lunar mission with bated breath, the videos are a revelation. The grainy, low-contrast videos taken by the Apollo astronauts were the only visuals we had to go on at the time. But you don’t need a good memory to know that the 40-year-old technology Apollo used can’t compare with 21st-century HDTV.
But don’t take my word for it. In the audience was Apollo 17 astronaut Jack Schmitt. He says the videos come close to matching his view from orbit, although he maintains the human eye does a slightly better job. That endorsement works for me. I think it might be time to update my home-theater components.