NASA to launch moon mission in September
August 26th, 2011 - 6:58 am ICT by IANSWashington, Aug 26 (IANS) NASA’s discovery mission programme - GRAIL - is making final launch preparations for its Sept 8 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the space agency announced Thursday.
The Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory twin spacecraft are tasked for a nine-month mission to explore Earth’s nearest neighbour in unprecedented detail.
They will determine the structure of the lunar interior from crust to core and advance our understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon, Xinhua reported.
The spacecraft twins, GRAIL A and B, will fly a circuitous route to lunar orbit taking 3.5 months and covering approximately 2.6 million miles (4.2 million km) for GRAIL-A, and 2.7 million miles (4.3 million km) for GRAIL-B.
“GRAIL will unlock lunar mysteries and help us understand how the moon, Earth and other rocky planets evolved as well,” said Maria Zuber, GRAIL principal investigator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
GRAIL’s launch period opens Sept 8 and extends through Oct 19.
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- NASA'S LRO completes exploration mission phase - Sep 16, 2010
- NASA launches Jupiter probe - Aug 05, 2011
- Moon may have as much water as Earth has - May 27, 2011
- Moon has liquid core just like Earth - Jan 08, 2011
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- NASA to launch new mission to Mars Saturday - Nov 24, 2011
- Moon's biggest crater exposes its hidden lower crust - Mar 05, 2010
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- China's 'Chang'e-2' expected to have enough fuel to return to earth - Oct 14, 2010
- NASA to probe Jupiter's stormy clouds - Jul 31, 2011
- Russia to send man to moon by 2030 - Apr 28, 2012
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