If you have read some of my stuff before, then no doubt you know I’m a bit of a nerd. I like new tech and new apps and my computer to run at least 2 different OS side by side just beacuse I can. Oh, and I love the occasional Sci-Fi movie. So when the opportunity to take a virtual tour around the Moon courtesy of Google maps came along, then I just couldn’t resist taking a look!
Google has just put some really neat 3D images, which you can explore, of the Moon and Mars in their Maps software. This coincides with the 2nd anniversary of the NASA Curiosity rover touching down on Martian soil.
In real life it would be quite some feat to be able to navigate to the Moon and the red planet and take a look around. But doing so in Google Maps is pretty easy, as long as you know whereabouts to click.
First of all navigate to Google Maps. Now look down in the bottom left and you should see an icon, which lets you put the map in “Google Earth” mode. Enable that mode. Wait for the map to load in 3D and then begin zooming out. In fact you need to zoom out as far as you can possible do.
Once you have zoomed all the way out, wait a second and you should see options for “Moon” and “Mars” that should appear at the bottom of your screen. If nothing shows up, you will have to adjust your settings as you may have the “Explore” tab closed. To remedy this, just click the pair of upward arrows in the bottom right to expand the Explore drawer. That’s it and I must say I love it!
Now we can view not just our planet, but the Moon and Mars too. If you want to check out some cool things on Google Maps just navigate to Google Maps and check out whatever you like. Now I’m sure I spotted a TARDIS around here somewhere.
As always, if you would like to leave a sensible comment, then please do so in the comments section below.
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This bizarre alien-like shape on the moon was spotted by an eagle-eyed Google Maps user.
A mysterious figure appears to stare into the distance of the lunar landscape complete with a matching shadow behind it.
It was first uploaded in a YouTube clip by user Wowforreeel which now has over 500,000 views.
He wrote: "Looks like it could be a cast shadow from a massive standing object, or figure."
Other users were as baffled by the unusual shape, one wrote: "looks like a vulture," while another added: "It could be a walking man."
One user said: "Okay, you found me!"
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Weird News
Google is planning to spend more than $1 billion on satellites which will reportedly be used to give internet access to parts of the planet that still have no connection to the web.
The news comes courtesy of The Wall Street Journal which claims that Google will start by building 180 small satellites in low orbit and then expanding from there because, why not.
Whilst the initial projection is $1 billion, there are some reports that the final cost of the project could be anything up to a massive $3 billion.
According to the WSJ Google has been hiring satellite engineers as well as experts in order to better fulfill their plans.
This isn't the first time Google has looked into expanding internet coverage over the globe with Project Loon proposing the idea of high-altitude balloons which would provide broadband coverage to out of reach areas.
Whilst balloons are cheap they're by no means a permanent solution, a fleet of satellites however would be able to reach much further whilst requiring very little maintenance.
Google and Facebook have both been looking at ways to bring Internet coverage to the rest of the world with Facebook's Internet.org partnership bringing together some of the tech-world's biggest players to improve web coverage globally.
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