How do you turn a region of the Moon into an STL?
Open the generator, pick a landmark from the list or drag the selection box over any other region, and choose a jigsaw puzzle or a solid ornament in a circle, square or hexagon. OrbitStudio builds the model from the elevation data and shows it in 3D before you download anything, with the terrain and the frame already separated and coloured.
Generating a model and turning it around in 3D is free and needs no account. A free account adds puzzle slicing, custom frame text and a library of three models. Downloading the STL and pre-coloured 3MF files uses one credit from a pass.
Which regions of the Moon print best?
Deep, young craters. Tycho is about 4.7 km deep, and its rim, terraced walls and central peak read at true scale; Copernicus has over 4,000 m of relief. The mare plains are the opposite: at true scale most of the Moon is far flatter than people expect, and a site like Apollo 11 needs 3x to 5x terrain exaggeration before the relief shows in a print.
The guide to printing the Moon works through those numbers, and the Apollo landing sites page compares all six missions.
Can you print the farside and the south pole?
Yes. The elevation data comes from an orbiter rather than a telescope, so the farside is covered as completely as the nearside — Tsiolkovskiy is one of the built-in destinations. The Artemis south pole region is there too, with Faustini Crater and the Malapert Massif.
Which lunar landmarks are built in?
Thirty-four, in five groups: all six Apollo landing sites, sixteen craters on the nearside, four on the farside, two places in the Artemis south pole region, and two mountain ranges, three valleys and a fault scarp. Each one below opens the generator already flown to it.
Apollo Landing Sites
| Apollo 11 | 0.674° N, 23.473° E · Open in the generator |
|---|---|
| Apollo 12 | 3.012° S, 23.422° W · Open in the generator |
| Apollo 14 | 3.645° S, 17.471° W · Open in the generator |
| Apollo 15 | 26.132° N, 3.634° E · Open in the generator |
| Apollo 16 | 8.973° S, 15.500° E · Open in the generator |
| Apollo 17 | 20.191° N, 30.772° E · Open in the generator |
Nearside Craters
| Archimedes Crater | 29.70° N, 4.00° W · Open in the generator |
|---|---|
| Aristarchus Crater | 23.70° N, 47.40° W · Open in the generator |
| Arzachel Crater | 18.2° S, 1.9° W · Open in the generator |
| Clavius Crater | 58.40° S, 14.40° W · Open in the generator |
| Copernicus Crater | 9.62° N, 20.08° W · Open in the generator |
| Eratosthenes Crater | 14.5° N, 11.3° W · Open in the generator |
| Gassendi Crater | 17.50° S, 39.90° W · Open in the generator |
| Humboldt Crater | 27.0° S, 80.9° E · Open in the generator |
| Kepler Crater | 8.12° N, 38.01° W · Open in the generator |
| Langrenus Crater | 8.90° S, 60.90° E · Open in the generator |
| Maurolycus Crater | 42.0° S, 14.0° E · Open in the generator |
| Plato Crater | 51.62° N, 9.38° W · Open in the generator |
| Schickard Crater | 44.40° S, 55.10° W · Open in the generator |
| Stevinus Crater | 32.5° S, 54.2° E · Open in the generator |
| Theophilus Crater | 11.4° S, 26.4° E · Open in the generator |
| Tycho Crater | 43.30° S, 11.22° W · Open in the generator |
Farside Craters
| Aitken Crater | 16.8° S, 173.4° E · Open in the generator |
|---|---|
| Jackson Crater | 22.4° N, 163.1° W · Open in the generator |
| King Crater | 5.0° N, 120.5° E · Open in the generator |
| Tsiolkovskiy Crater | 20.4° S, 129.1° E · Open in the generator |
South Pole (Artemis)
| Faustini Crater | 87.18° S, 84.31° E · Open in the generator |
|---|---|
| Malapert Massif | 85.98° S, 1.67° W · Open in the generator |
Mountains and Valleys
| Montes Apenninus | 19.87° N, 0.03° E · Open in the generator |
|---|---|
| Montes Caucasus | 38.4° N, 10.0° E · Open in the generator |
| Rupes Recta | 21.8° S, 7.8° W · Open in the generator |
| Vallis Alpes | 48.5° N, 3.2° E · Open in the generator |
| Vallis Rheita | 42.5° S, 51.5° E · Open in the generator |
| Vallis Schroteri | 26.2° N, 50.8° W · Open in the generator |
What is OrbitStudio?
OrbitStudio turns real NASA elevation data into 3D-printable models. You pick a region of the Moon on a globe or a flat map, choose a jigsaw puzzle or a solid ornament, and get ready-to-print files with terrain and borders already separated and coloured. No CAD, no mesh repair. The heights come from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been measuring the Moon's surface since 2009.
Trying it is free and needs no account: pick a region, generate it and turn it around in 3D. Downloading the model — STL files and pre-coloured 3MF files for Bambu Studio or OrcaSlicer — uses one credit from a pass. The generator covers Mars too.
The night sky, too
StellarMesh, from the same maker, turns the sky over any place, on any date from 1900 to 2100, into a 3D-printable star map. Its STL is free.