NASA Moon Trek: Hesiodus Crater, Mons Pico, Plato & Tutorial

thingiverse

**NASA Trek Moon, Mars, Mercury, Vesta, Ceres web “Generate 3D print file” tool** In order to help students easily (as easy as TinkerCAD) make their own terrain models of favorite regions of the Moon & other solar system bodies supported by JPL's "point, click, drag" online NASA Trek tool, I have provided key screenshots as well as described the basic steps of the process in the lesson included below the specific printing suggestions & details. By using "Vase mode", excellent prints may be made in a matter of several hours on common modest printers. For fun, I have included several interesting examples of Moon .STL terrain models I generated using this method as well as an image I took of the Moon highlighting a few shadows. [Click here to go to the NASA Moon Trek & choose 3D globe projection or VR (Google carboard supported :-) for a great view of the Hesiodus Crater area that was used for several of the included example .STL files](https://trek.nasa.gov/moon/#v=0.1&x=-17.050780931942096&y=-29.838866630898693&z=7&p=urn%3Aogc%3Adef%3Acrs%3AEPSG%3A%3A104903&d=&locale=&b=moon&e=-22.236327710213153%2C-32.365722052513824%2C-11.865234153671041%2C-27.312011209283558&sfz=&w=) A low angle point light source can cast sharp long shadows on the models similar to those seen when observing the Moon though a decent telescope...see especially the "Plato-Mons Pico-Mons Piton" model. Related projects that may be of interest: * [Lunar Crater Chain Mendeleev: NASA Moon Trek Chang'e 2 DEM 20m https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:487976](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4879761) * to celebrate the 2021 February 18 arrival at Mars of Perseverance Rover & Helicopter, please see this related [Mars project & model: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4747950](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4747950)