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NASA’s “Tour of the Moon 4K” is a data-based lunar visualization released on April 9, 2018—not a new mission or live camera footage. It recreates NASA’s 2011 five-minute tour, following the same camera path while drawing on the much larger set of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter observations collected in the intervening six years. NASA provides the narrated 4K video and download options through its Scientific Visualization Studio page.
What the 4K Moon tour is
The video simulates a journey across lunar terrain using spacecraft measurements and imagery. A virtual camera glides over the surface while labels and narration identify features and explain the science behind them. The 4K version is a 2018 recreation of NASA’s 2011 animation; the route is the same, but the remake incorporates expanded data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). NASA describes the update on its Tour of the Moon 4K page.
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That distinction matters: the camera is not actually flying over the Moon, and the video is not live footage. Its appearance is a visualization assembled from observations. Nor does the 4K label mean every scientific measurement underneath it has uniform 4K resolution.
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The route spans the near side, far side and polar regions, using a selection of craters, basins and other terrain to show how varied the Moon is. NASA’s featured examples include:
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- Orientale basin and South Pole–Aitken basin: large, ancient features that help show the scale and history of lunar impacts.
- Tycho and Aristarchus: smaller, younger features included in the tour’s contrasts in lunar terrain.
- The Aristarchus plateau: the visualization highlights information about the region’s mineral composition.
- The south-polar region: the tour points to evidence for water ice in certain locations. This is evidence at specific spots, not proof that ice is widespread or readily accessible.
It also illustrates why some places are difficult to study with ordinary images. Permanently shadowed polar areas can be hard to photograph, but instruments that measure elevation can still map their shape. Separately, NASA notes that images of several Apollo landing sites have reached resolutions as fine as 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel. That figure applies to those site images—not to the entire Moon or to the tour as a whole.
How NASA built the lunar landscape
The original tour’s terrain and color combine data from multiple missions and instruments. NASA’s original Tour of the Moon page describes the principal sources:
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- Terrain shape: primarily elevation measurements from LRO’s Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA).
- Additional terrain detail: stereo imagery from LRO’s Wide Angle Camera (LROC WAC) and Japan’s Kaguya mission.
- Global surface color: data from the Clementine mission.
- Other observations highlighted in the remake: mineral-composition information on the Aristarchus plateau, evidence for ice at certain south-polar locations, and gravity mapping in and around Orientale basin.
Together, those inputs let the animation portray relief and surface characteristics that a single ordinary photograph could not show. The tour is an explanatory view built from measurements; its smooth flight and rendered appearance should not be mistaken for one camera’s direct view.
How the 2011 and 2018 versions differ
The 2011 original was a five-minute animation. Six years later, NASA reused its camera path for the 2018 4K remake, adding the intervening LRO data and updated visual detail and scientific context. The 4K release page credits Ernie Wright as visualizer, David Ladd as producer and editor, and Noah Petro as scientific consultant.
NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio lists the narrated version as a 3840×2160 MP4 and also offers an unlabelled 3840×2160 MOV, along with supporting images, frame sets and lower-resolution files. Those dimensions describe the downloadable video formats, not the resolution of every measurement used to create them. Check the SVS download page for current files, since availability can change.
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For the narrated 4K tour and NASA’s available downloads, go to the NASA Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio’s Tour of the Moon 4K Redux page. NASA’s Science resource page provides release context and explains the tour’s scientific highlights. NASA also included the video in its NASA at Home virtual tours and apps collection.
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