LRO spots impacts sites of GRAIL spacecraft
Posted: Tue, Mar 26, 2013, 8:11 AM ET (1211 GMT)
A NASA orbiter has photographed the impacts sites of two other NASA spacecraft that crashed into the Moon in December. NASA released last week images taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft of the impact sites of the twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft, which hit the lunar surface on December 17. The spacecraft created craters approximately four to six meters in diameter, with dark ejecta patterns. LRO's instruments also detected traces of mercury in the plume kicked up by the impacts, consistent with what it detected when the LCROSS spacecraft crashed into the Moon's south polar regions in 2009. The GRAIL spacecraft had been in orbit for nearly a year, mapping the Moon's gravity field; the spacecraft crashed into the Moon when they exhausted their onboard propellant.
A NASA orbiter has photographed the impacts sites of two other NASA spacecraft that crashed into the Moon in December. NASA released last week images taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft of the impact sites of the twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft, which hit the lunar surface on December 17. The spacecraft created craters approximately four to six meters in diameter, with dark ejecta patterns. LRO's instruments also detected traces of mercury in the plume kicked up by the impacts, consistent with what it detected when the LCROSS spacecraft crashed into the Moon's south polar regions in 2009. The GRAIL spacecraft had been in orbit for nearly a year, mapping the Moon's gravity field; the spacecraft crashed into the Moon when they exhausted their onboard propellant.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Vast signs contract with SpaceX for ISS private astronaut missions
Posted: Sat, Dec 21 11:59 AM ET (1659 GMT) Avio signs ESA contracts for Vega upgrades and Earth science satellite launch
Posted: Sat, Dec 21 11:57 AM ET (1657 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Monday, December 23
Isro to launch 24 experiments to space with PSLV Spadex mission
India Today — 7:16 am ET (1216 GMT) Experimental payloads developed by Karnataka-based academia and start-ups to be launched in ISRO upcoming mission
The Hindu — 7:15 am ET (1215 GMT) ISRO to conduct experiments on growing plants in space
The Tribune (India) — 7:15 am ET (1215 GMT) Isro PSLV-C60 Spadex mission: When will it launch and how to watch it
India Today — 7:13 am ET (1213 GMT) NASA probe to fly closer to the Sun than ever before
Axios — 7:12 am ET (1212 GMT) |
