On October 9, 2009, at 7:30 a.m. EDT professional and amateur astronomers alike will be focusing their telescopes on the south pole of the Moon, hoping to see a little fireworks. Or more accurately, they are hoping to see ice. NASA will be sending the upper stage of a Centaur rocket to impact a permanently shadowed crater, along with the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS which will fly into the plume of dust left by the impact and measure the properties of the dust to look for water ice hidden inside the crater. LCROSS will collide with the lunar surface. Team scientists have been debating what crater would be the optimal location for the impact, and today they made their announcement: Cabeus A.
And just to clarify, the spacecraft will impact the Moon, NOT bomb it. No detonations involved.
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Read the rest of LCROSS Impact Site on Moon Announced: Cabeus A (431 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2009. |
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Full story at http://www.universetoday.com/2009/09/11/lcross-impact-site-on-moon-announced-cabeus-a/
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