Nasa LCROSS impact mission on moon successful
October 9th, 2009 - 8:50 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt
Moffett Field, Oct 9 (THAINDIAN NEWS) In a scientific mission to solve the mystery whether the presence of lunar water is true or not, NASA had launched a special moon-specific mission called Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) that sent a rocket which crashed into the southern surface of the moon. The lunar impact produced such a cloud of debris through which scientists and analysts back on Earth could derive whether or not water actually exists in some form on the moon.
The primary goal of LCROSS was to measure the concentration of water ice (ice to dust ratio) in the lunar regolith.
LCROSS passed through the plumes of debris, collecting and relaying important data back to Earth before itself making an impact on the crater. The LCROSS payload has a visible camera and radiometer as well as two near-infrared spectrometers, a visible light spectrometer, two mid-infrared cameras and two near-infrared cameras.
“As the ejecta rises above the target crater’s rim and is exposed to sunlight, any water-ice, hydrocarbons or organics will vaporize and break down into their basic components. These components primarily will be monitored by the visible and infrared spectrometers. The near-infrared and mid-infrared cameras will determine the total amount and distribution of water in the debris plume. The spacecraft’s visible camera will track the impact location and the behavior of the debris plume while the visible radiometer will measure the flash created by the Centaur impact,” NASA explains in the mission overview.
Nasa TV had an Icross live feed for its viewers of the whole mission today. Eager viewers could see the NASA moon crash live. The various Icross images of the moon strike are available on the internet. People were under the impression that NASA was blowing up the moon, but in reality it wasn’t any terrorism or vandalism attack, but rather a scientific exploration mission through a lunar crash.
The NASA moon bombing video was a huge hit on the internet, with anxious people looking at it to see the moon crash and the lunar impact. The moon blast caused a sensation on the NASA channel.
For further updates, the official NASA site is www.nasa.gov
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Tags: blowing up the moon, ejecta, exploration mission, images of the moon, impact location, impact mission, infrared cameras, lcross, lunar crash, lunar impact, lunar regolith, lunar water, mission overview, moffett field, moon crash, nasa tv, scientific exploration, surface of the moon, target crater, unar