New geological map of the Moon

摘要

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has released a new authoritative map to help explain the 4.5-billion-year-old history of the Earth's nearest neighbour in space. For the first time, the entire lunar surface has been completely mapped and uniformly classified by scientists from the USGS Astrogeology Science Center, in collaboration with NASA and the Lunar Planetary Institute. The new lunar map, called the 'Unified Geologic-Map of the Moon', shows the Moon's geology in incredible detail at 1:5,000,000 scale and will serve as the definitive blueprint of the Moon's surface geology for future human missions. 'People have always been fascinated by the Moon and when we might return,' said current USGS director and former NASA astronaut |im Reilly. 'So, it's wonderful to see USGS create a resource that can help NASA with their planning for future missions.'