spacetoday.net: LCROSS impact crater selected

Posted: Sat, Sep 12, 2009, 9:03 AM ET (1303 GMT)
LCROSS spacecraft illustration (NASA)

Scientists announced Friday the crater that a NASA spacecraft and rocket stage will crash into next month in a search for water ice. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) and its Centaur upper stage are targeted to impact the Cabeus A crater in the south polar region of the Moon at about 7:30 am EDT (1130 GMT) on October 9. The Centaur upper stage will impact first; LCROSS will analyze the plume of material created by the impact before itself crashing into the surface. The impacts will also be observed by telescopes on the ground, and could be visible to amateur astronomers. LCROSS was launched in June as a secondary payload on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. The spacecraft did suffer a technical problem last month that caused it to expend much of its propellant, but mission officials said that the spacecraft is now healthy and has enough propellant left to carry out the mission.