Summary

This is a scan of a 1m x 1m part of the surface of the asteroid Eros taken by NEAR before its terminal touchdown. I submit it, not as an interesting model, but in response to the asteroid scan request by CosmoWenman.

Instructions

As you can see, this is a simple heightfield scan from the original image which would be printable if mesh applied to a solid.

The challenge was to "upload an original 3D scan of a 1m x 1m area of an asteroid to the Thingiverse and tag it as a derivative of this post. It needs to be scanned directly from the original, from an altitude of no more than 10 meters."

No disrespect but I think CosmoWesman is unclear on several concepts. First, there are no images from asteroids from a height of 10 meters. The NEAR project came the closest - this is a scan of a 1m X 1m section of the final descent image taken from a range of 130 meters (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/mission/near/descent_images/near_descent_157417198.html), the last actual image and closest image of an asteroid surface. Only Hayabusa has come closer (at 23 m) but it's "lander" did not have imaging equipment, only a laser altimeter (although it did manage to snag and return tiny samples).

I'm all for pushing people to try new things and establishing bragging rights contests for more involvement, but this one does not really work since it was not thought out thoroughly. Just take this as a teaching moment - you can get terrains and scans but know what you are asking for.

1 m square of asteroid Eros from NEAR

1 m square of asteroid Eros from NEAR

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