Posts Tagged LCROSS
Big Damn Music: Shoot the Moon
Posted by mistergroonk in Music, Science, Space on October 12, 2009
In effort to appeal to The Moon‘s better nature after NASA flew the SUV-sized LCROSS into a polar region crater in search fo that ever elusive for human survival water we created a visual mixtape. Four songs pertaining to la luna, or science or just the generalities of being human. No matter how accommodating she was about the event; dive bombing the heck out of the lunar landscape, even such a small piece, demands a small bit of recompense.
Unsure on whether to delve into the audio/visual You Tube compilation with both feet? Calm those uncertain nerves by dipping below the cut.
Read the rest of this entry »
LCROSS: Terror in the Sky! Mad NASA Scientists to Attack the Moon: Oct. 9, 2009 6:30 AM CDT
Posted by mistergroonk in Just Freaking Neat, Science, Space, USA on October 8, 2009
LCROSS was made by man.
LCROSS launched with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on June 18, 2009 at 2:32 p.m. PDT.
Because water was found on the moon.
The LCROSS shepherding spacecraft and the Atlas V’s Centaur upper stage rocket executed a fly-by of the moon on June 23, 2009 (LCROSS lunar swingby video stream coverage) and entered into an elongated Earth orbit to position LCROSS for impact on a lunar pole.
NASA has a plan:
On final approach, the shepherding spacecraft and Centaur will separate. The Centaur will act as a heavy impactor to create a debris plume that will rise above the lunar surface. Projected impact at the lunar South Pole is currently: Oct 9, 2009 at 4:30 a.m. PDT. Following four minutes behind, the shepherding spacecraft will fly through the debris plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before impacting the lunar surface and creating a second debris plume.
The debris plumes are expected to be visible from Earth- and space-based telescopes 10-to-12 inches and larger.
NASA to Dive Bomb Moon with Robot, Look for Water
Posted by mistergroonk in Admin, Robots, Science, The Future on August 11, 2008
Sometime between May and August 2009, depending on launch dates, the booster stage for NASA’s LCROSS probe will deliberately crash into a permanently-shadowed lunar crater at 9,000 km/hr, producing an explosion equivalent to about 2,000 pounds of TNT (6.5 billion joules). The blast will jettison material out of the crater into broad daylight where astronomers can search the debris for signs of lunar water.
(via science@nasa)