Photo: charter97.org/Иван Mezhui

She will serve for future human missions to the moon.

USGS (USGS) has released a new map of the moon, which will help to explain many features of our nearest neighbor in space, writes “Popular mechanics”.

For the first time the entire lunar surface has been completely mapped and classified by scientists from the USGS, in cooperation with NASA and the Lunar planetary Institute.

The lunar map called “unified geological map of the moon” will serve for future human missions to the moon and will be invaluable to the international scientific community, educators and the General public. The digital map will also be available online for studying the Geology of the moon in incredible detail (scale 1:5 000 000).

“This map is the result of many years of the project,” said Corey Fortezza, a USGS geologist and lead author. “It provides vital information for new scientific research.“

The height data of the Equatorial region of the moon was obtained stereoscopic observations collected by the Terrain camera during a recent mission SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer), led by the Japan aerospace exploration Agency JAXA. Topography the North and South poles were supplemented with data of the laser altimeter the Lunar Orbiter of NASA.