spacetoday.net: LCROSS changes target crater

LCROSS changes target crater

Posted: Tue, Sep 29, 2009, 6:45 AM ET (1045 GMT)
LCROSS spacecraft illustration (NASA)

A spacecraft that will deliberately impact the Moon in early October will hit a different crater that previously planned, project officials said Monday. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) spacecraft has been retargeted to hit the Cabeus crater, rather than Cabeus A as previously planned. The change is based on the latest data from other spacecraft regarding the location with the highest concentrations of hydrogen, and thus presumably water ice. LCROSS will impact the crater at around 7:30 am EDT (1130 GMT) on October 9; prior to the impact the spacecraft will observe the impact of the Centaur upper stage that launched the spacecraft, which will strike in the same location.