Apollo 15 Landing Site
Description
This is a 3D print of the 69 square kilometer area around the Hadley Rille/Mons Hadley Apollo 15 landing site. Free STL downloads of the entirety of the moon are available for NASA's LROC (Lunar Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) data. Users can go to https://quickmap.lroc.asu.edu to select areas of interest to them or just to view high-resolution lunar images and review elevation data. This specific model is a 2x vertical exaggeration. I choose this specific area because of its historical significance and relatively dramatic elevation changes over short distances, which makes for a better-looking print. It is also a favorite telescopic target of mine (the attached image of it is from one of my telescopes). I have printed significantly larger areas of interesting targets such as the crater Copernicus. However, with the small print bed for my printer, small details over large areas tend to get lost in the print (low resolution). Even if the printer can print them, they do not stand out in the final print. I printed this in black PLA because that is what I had open. I do plan to spray paint it gray for a more natural appearance and allow some of the details to stand out. I will also print this in gray and may post more images after I do so. I would suggest using a filament color other than white or black so that smaller features in particular stand out in normal room lighting. I do warn that STL downloads from the NASA-affiliated website need to be repaired and are excessively large no matter how small the lunar of area interest to be printed. I'm assuming these downloads are intended for massive, professional printers. Even with this STL, you might receive a warning that the model needs to be repaired in FlashPrint - which it does do. I ended up printing this in Simplify3d and I am pleased with the results. I kept the resolution at 0.2mm for speed purposes, and infill was 15%. The model is plenty solid with 15% infill and it might be possible to go lower. Though this printed rather beautifully in a FlashForge Dreamer NX with Simplify3D, and a similar lunar model printed quite well using FlashPrint, lower resolution likely would yield a smoother print. If I do reprint this at lower resolution, I'll upload photos to show the difference.
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