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China’s Moon atlas is the most detailed ever made

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Re: China’s Moon atlas is the most detailed ever made

#51

Post by nekopa »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #25
swiftcoder wrote: post #16

Does anyone know if the raw data behind these maps is available? I'd love the actual high-res elevation data for use in a moon simulator

I started with NASA's "CGI Moon Kit" [1] to do my little voxel-based moon game, Mooncraft2000. Higher-resolution data would have been cool – but at some point the enormity of the data would probably mean I would have to stick to a small area of the Moon lest I fill my little server with tiles, ha ha. I was also trying keep parity more or less between the resolution of the elevation data and image data since those vox…

Great game BTW!

Re: China’s Moon atlas is the most detailed ever made

#53

Post by T-A »

dotnet00 wrote: post #46
T-A wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you aware of this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Lunar_Research_S...

Yes I am aware of it, but Russia has been talking about doing big stuff for decades now with mainly a rapidly decaying space industry to show for it, and none of the other partners are exactly notable space industry participants either. So it just looks like a way to appear to be competing with Artemis without having to actually put in the same kind of effort. I get the impression that it'll fall apart once Artemis s…

I agree about China's partners. Russia may have some legacy technology to contribute, the others are lightweights. That aspect of the program is mainly about politics.

The Chinese space program however looks serious enough. Some recent press:

https://thediplomat.com/2023/10/long-march-9-rocket-will-be-...

https://www.space.com/china-names-spacecraft-astronaut-moon-...

https://spacenews.com/china-to-debut-large-reusable-rockets-...

Re: China’s Moon atlas is the most detailed ever made

#54

Post by psychoslave »

pc86 wrote: post #41
HideousKojima wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>had explorers not ventured across the sea just to see what was on the other side I mean, they mostly did it to establish trade routes and exploit previously untapped natural resources, not out of a mere spirit of exploration. And even if the explorers themselves did it out of a spirit of exploration, the ones funding their expeditions generally had other motives.

Then let's explore for the riches that could be (are) there? If that's the motivation some people need, so be it. We're undoubtably in a better place as a society now than we were in the 1200s so it stands to reason that exploring the solar system and beyond would stand to put us in a better position come 3200 or 4200 than if we simply languish here.

It's not like everything looks absolutely better today than it was for anyone anywhere in 1200s. For one thing there wasn't the anxiougenous messages broadcasted continuously h24 about massive extinction and global warming well on their road.

This is not saying all is darker, and denies the many benefits that social and technological progresses thhat can be hand picked.

Re: China’s Moon atlas is the most detailed ever made

#55

Post by surfingdino »

greenavocado wrote: post #47
JKCalhoun wrote: post #27

Being in the U.S., I am isolated from China and the zeitgeist of its people - but I'm getting little hints that the Moon may very well be in the forefront. With this "mood", Chinese astronauts on the Moon seems inevitable now. And I don't say that with dread, it's just more of an awakening I am having to a future that I had not thought much about until very recently. I think in fact I look forward to it because I sup…

I can't wait for China to release photos of the location of the American landing on the moon.

Be patient, it takes a while to get it done in ink.

Re: China’s Moon atlas is the most detailed ever made

#56

Post by letmevoteplease »

lqet wrote: post #4
boomboomsubban wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a phys.org story on the matter, there's a 200MB jpeg. https://dx.doi.org/10.12176/03.99.02797 Seems to still be in the process of being proofed.

Direct link to the JPEG: https://china.scidb.cn/download?fileId=62b3ceb08e66a93f11a07...

Scaled to 50% (19.2MB): https://files.catbox.moe/egqh3x.jpg

Re: China’s Moon atlas is the most detailed ever made

#57

Post by aurareturn »

polishdude20 wrote: post #50
aurareturn wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I visited China late last year, I spoke to the people there on what they thought about the US and the current trade war. Almost everyone I spoke to said that they think the US is a very advanced country and admire the US. They have no interest in changing or influencing the US to be more like themselves. They see this trade war as just "what politicians do". They seem to have an understanding of why China is doi…

So this may be because Americans think of China as China's political system. When they think "Chinese" they think Xi Jingping. How many Chinese people think of America and go "Joe Biden"? I'd bet more of them think "Brad Pitt" or something along those lines. My point is, Americans may see Chinese people as their political system. While the Chinese see Americans as their culture: movies, tv, music etc.

In the past, on Hacker News, I've had to explain to commenters here that the level of anti-China propaganda in the US is magnitudes higher than any anti-American propaganda in China. Most don't believe me because they assume that China must be deploying the same level of anti-American propaganda as the US deploys the opposite.

In 2024, if you go to a coffee shop in China, you'll very often hear American music. If you go to a movie theater in China, you'll very often see viewings for Hollywood movies. If you walk around the street, you'll see many clear American logos like Starbucks, McDonalds, KFC, Apple, Walmart, Ford, Microsoft, Tesla, etc.

If you walk around the US, you won't see many Chinese brands, if at all. In fact, even if a Chinese company operates in the US, they have to hide the fact that they're a Chinese company. American cafes won't play Chinese music. AMC isn't showing Chinese movies.

Furthermore, in a democracy, in order for politicians to win elections, they have to have a popular opinion. The US media has been non-stop anti-China for a long time now. Therefore, the popular opinion is "China bad". In order for politicians to win an election, they must be "China bad" as well. It's a cycle really. It's almost political suicide for a politician to even have a moderate view on China. It's also hard for any American media to have moderate views on China nowadays.

To me, it's not surprising at all that Chinese people in China do not hate Americans the same way Americans hate the Chinese.

On Hacker News comments, I've been accused of being paid by the CCP more times than I can remember just because I'm not automatically "China bad".

Re: China’s Moon atlas is the most detailed ever made

#58

Post by thomastjeffery »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #27

Being in the U.S., I am isolated from China and the zeitgeist of its people - but I'm getting little hints that the Moon may very well be in the forefront. With this "mood", Chinese astronauts on the Moon seems inevitable now. And I don't say that with dread, it's just more of an awakening I am having to a future that I had not thought much about until very recently. I think in fact I look forward to it because I sup…

Consider the diversity of the US population, and multiply by 4.

Re: China’s Moon atlas is the most detailed ever made

#59

Post by bllguo »

contrarian1234 wrote: post #35
JKCalhoun wrote: post #27

Being in the U.S., I am isolated from China and the zeitgeist of its people - but I'm getting little hints that the Moon may very well be in the forefront. With this "mood", Chinese astronauts on the Moon seems inevitable now. And I don't say that with dread, it's just more of an awakening I am having to a future that I had not thought much about until very recently. I think in fact I look forward to it because I sup…

This isn't authoritative in the slightest, but having lived in China I got a general feeling that Chinese see themselves as a third world country that's kinda backwards and trying it's best to catch up. This was my sense talking to normal people that sell noodles and whatnot. There is a kinda separate ultra nationalist crowd that probably see things different, but they don't really represent the majority. I think lan…

in the major cities at least, there is significantly growing awareness atp that domestic infrastructure, technology, etc. is simply better than in the west. people meme about western cities as being comparable to villages

however

1. they certainly do recognize areas where they are "behind". more interesting than technologies (ex. space, hn's new pet topic in semiconductors eyeroll, etc.) are things like recognizing mental health concerns and better working conditions

2. there are obviously still millions upon millions of people not in the major cities, for whom life has improved but clearly hasn't reached western standards

i dont think the spirit of what youre saying is wrong, but the inferiority complex youre implying is fading fast

Re: China’s Moon atlas is the most detailed ever made

#60

Post by bllguo »

aurareturn wrote: post #42
contrarian1234 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't authoritative in the slightest, but having lived in China I got a general feeling that Chinese see themselves as a third world country that's kinda backwards and trying it's best to catch up. This was my sense talking to normal people that sell noodles and whatnot. There is a kinda separate ultra nationalist crowd that probably see things different, but they don't really represent the majority. I think lan…

When I visited China late last year, I spoke to the people there on what they thought about the US and the current trade war. Almost everyone I spoke to said that they think the US is a very advanced country and admire the US. They have no interest in changing or influencing the US to be more like themselves. They see this trade war as just "what politicians do". They seem to have an understanding of why China is doi…

yes, there is a widespread awareness that this is all realpolitik. in the western public, everything is a moral struggle between good and evil, where the west is the good guy de facto

to add on to this - far more chinese people visit the west than the other way around. many study english. there is significantly greater understanding of their counterpart's systems in china than in the US or europe. the US has trouble recruiting people who are even literate in mandarin, FFS, to say nothing about familiarity with the culture (even more incredibly, nobody questions reporting or analysis on china produced by these illiterate people!)

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