Hold the Moon in Your Hand: AstroReality to Offer 3D Printed Lunar Model with Integrated Augmented Reality

I was a mere tot when men first walked on our rocky, crater ridden moon. My father loves to tell the story. My grandparents were out of town for the summer, so as was my parents’ tradition, we had completely moved into their much nicer house by the beach for a few months until they returned (usually to find at least one exotic valuable thing broken by an exuberant child). It was the summer of 1969 and my grandparents had a comfy den, centered around what was a very nice black and white TV—rabbit ears and all.

I was sick with the croup and as my dad told it, he was holding me and pacing back and forth, alternately waiting for my worrisome fever to go down and for Neil Armstrong to set foot on the moon. Both did finally happen, and it is all documented in an old-fashioned photo album, now yellowed with time, but still bearing a blurry photo of men on TV traversing space in their big white suits. That of course was as close as any of us could imagine getting to the moon.

Now though, AstroReality has a smart new way for you to visit the moon—and it doesn’t involve having to get into tiptop shape, gaining an engineering degree, or living on freeze-dried space food portions for days on end. While that might all actually sound pretty cool, thanks to AstroReality now you can just check out the moon while holding it in the palm of your hand—in a 1/28,969,000 scale high-definition 3D printed model with a 0.05mm layer height, printing error precision of 0.025mm and 4000DPI resolution. Imbued with augmented reality, AstroReality says this about their model:

“It’s built with the most accurate 3D printing technology available in the market, which means it is modeled with 0.006 millimeters per pixel precise renderings of the moon’s surface based on data captured by NASA’s Lunar Orbiter science team.”

Not the first highly accurate moon globe to be brought about by 3D printing technology, the augmented reality aspects of the AstroReality Lunar Model make it a first of its kind, and each piece is painted and given a protective coating, all by hand. The smart model displays the precise topography of the moon, including those famous craters, and is expected to be used for numerous educational purposes—after all, what’s a better way to get your students excited than talking about space? Now, kids have a great visual aid to use as they learn more, to include:

• Learning numerous facts about the moon
• Simulating moon missions
• Enjoying trivia about space
• Taking ‘lunar adventures’ from school or home

AstroReality will be featuring this model on Indiegogo, beginning on July 11, 2017. Mark the date as Indiegogo campaigns offer a great way to purchase innovative devices at discounted prices—not to mention, you’ll probably have a 3D printed lunar model before anyone else ! Not only will early-bird’ prices be offered, but you can also enter to win an AR enabled Solar System Mini Set. Find out more, and sign up on AstroReality’s email list to enter, here. Discuss in the 3D Printed Moon forum at 3DPB.com.