I ran across a very interesting 3D model service, OrbitStudio.
This is a 3D model generator, but it’s quite interesting in where it gets the data from. It can produce fully 3D printable 3D models of the surface of the Moon and other celestial destinations.
OrbitStudio provides a kind of Google Earth-like view, where you can scroll around and find an interesting location to print. It also includes a lengthy list of pre-calculated locations of interest, such as the Apollo landing sites, notable lunar probes and the most famous craters. There’s also a search feature to immediately find specific locations by name.
Once located, you specify the size of the area you want to print, and the geometry required: circle, square or hexagon. A generate button triggers the process. Below you can see the resulting 3D model created for the Apollo 17 landing site (which was the one with the most vertical topography; Apollo 11’s landing site is nearly flat, in case you are interested.)
Then you export the 3D model and print it.
There’s only one catch: this is a subscription service. In order to download, you must have a subscription, which starts at US$10/month, or US$79/year. The subscription allows for up to ten generations per day, but also provides the ability to automatically create printable jigsaw puzzle pieces from the same location.
Did I say it’s not just for lunar printing? OrbitStudio can also produce terrain models for Mars, Mercury and Venus, as well as asteroids Vesta and Ceres. It also includes the dwarf planet Pluto and its huge moon Charon. However, the last two do not have complete datasets for their surfaces because NASA probes only saw one side of each during the single, brief flyby years ago. (NASA is the ultimate source for OrbitStudio’s elevation data.)
There are several terrain generators available for 3D printing, but almost all of them focus on the Earth. OrbitStudio, on the other hand, doesn’t include the Earth at all, but does include anything substantial with a mapped surface in the solar system.
Via OrbitStudio
