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Browse here for some of our available imagery. We may get permission to use some non-USGS images and these should be marked and are subject to copyright laws. USGS Astrogeology images can be freely downloaded.
The Sputnik 1 spacecraft, the world's first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957.
The Sputnik 1 spacecraft, the world's first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957.
View of the Stullwater Mine, where rocks are collected for making lunar regolith simulant.
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The USGS has created man-made moon dirt, or regolith, to help NASA prepare for upcoming moon explorations. Four tons of the simulant is expected to be made by this summer of 2009 and turned over to the scientific community involved in lunar exploration.
View of the Stullwater Mine, where rocks are collected for making lunar regolith simulant.
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The USGS has created man-made moon dirt, or regolith, to help NASA prepare for upcoming moon explorations. Four tons of the simulant is expected to be made by this summer of 2009 and turned over to the scientific community involved in lunar exploration.
The plasma torch melter in Boulder, Colorado exists nowhere else in the world. The mixed and ground rock on the left in a 1-ton bag is fed into the melter to be made into glass.
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The plasma torch melter in Boulder, Colorado exists nowhere else in the world. The mixed and ground rock on the left in a 1-ton bag is fed into the melter to be made into glass.
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Plasma torches at Zybek Advanced Products blaze at over 37,000 degrees Fahrenheit, melting the rock mixture.
Plasma torches at Zybek Advanced Products blaze at over 37,000 degrees Fahrenheit, melting the rock mixture.
The molten rock streams through an opening in the melter into a large container of water below, where it instantly cools into glass.
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The molten rock streams through an opening in the melter into a large container of water below, where it instantly cools into glass.
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The agglutinate created by the plasma melting process is later ground and blended with other materials to create lunar regolith simulant.
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The agglutinate created by the plasma melting process is later ground and blended with other materials to create lunar regolith simulant.
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A mosaic of the surface of Mercury made from hundreds of images taken by the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft.
A mosaic of the surface of Mercury made from hundreds of images taken by the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft.
In an unearthly series of events, the USGS has created man-made moon dirt, or regolith, to help NASA prepare for upcoming moon explorations. Four tons of the simulant is expected to be made by this summer of 2009 and turned over to the scientific community involved in lunar exploration.
In an unearthly series of events, the USGS has created man-made moon dirt, or regolith, to help NASA prepare for upcoming moon explorations. Four tons of the simulant is expected to be made by this summer of 2009 and turned over to the scientific community involved in lunar exploration.
Rocks from the Stillwater Mine are collected, ground, and blended with other rocks and materials to make the lunar regolith simulant.
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Rocks from the Stillwater Mine are collected, ground, and blended with other rocks and materials to make the lunar regolith simulant.
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Rocks are collected from the Stillwater Mine in Nye, Montana to be used for making lunar regolith simulant.
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Rocks are collected from the Stillwater Mine in Nye, Montana to be used for making lunar regolith simulant.
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Rocks from the Stillwater Mine are brought to the USGS in Denver, Colorado, where they are sledged and ground before entering the plasma melter at Zybek Advanced Products.
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Rocks from the Stillwater Mine are brought to the USGS in Denver, Colorado, where they are sledged and ground before entering the plasma melter at Zybek Advanced Products.
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When firing, the Zybek melter plasma torches must be viewed wearing long sleeves and a welding mask to avoid potential burns from the 37,000 degree Fahrenheit blaze.
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When firing, the Zybek melter plasma torches must be viewed wearing long sleeves and a welding mask to avoid potential burns from the 37,000 degree Fahrenheit blaze.
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The molten rock mixture cools upon contact with lukewarm water, instantly creating glassy agglutinate.
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The molten rock mixture cools upon contact with lukewarm water, instantly creating glassy agglutinate.
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When the water is separated from the cooled molten rock, agglutinate is collected.
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The USGS has created man-made moon dirt, or regolith, to help NASA prepare for upcoming moon explorations. Four tons of the simulant is expected to be made by this summer of 2009 and turned over to the scientific community involved in lunar exploration.
When the water is separated from the cooled molten rock, agglutinate is collected.
__________
The USGS has created man-made moon dirt, or regolith, to help NASA prepare for upcoming moon explorations. Four tons of the simulant is expected to be made by this summer of 2009 and turned over to the scientific community involved in lunar exploration.
The agglutinate created by the plasma melting process is later ground and blended with other materials to create lunar regolith simulant.
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The agglutinate created by the plasma melting process is later ground and blended with other materials to create lunar regolith simulant.
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To present the most information in a single view of Jupiter's moon, Io, a global color mosaic, derived from Galileo color images, was superposed on a higher resolution image mosaic, derived from merging the best resolution images from spacecrafts Galileo and Voyager 1.
To present the most information in a single view of Jupiter's moon, Io, a global color mosaic, derived from Galileo color images, was superposed on a higher resolution image mosaic, derived from merging the best resolution images from spacecrafts Galileo and Voyager 1.