GRAIL spacecraft crash into the Moon
Posted: Tue, Dec 18, 2012, 7:27 AM ET (1227 GMT)
NASA's twin GRAIL spacecraft crashed into a mountain on the Moon Monday afternoon, completing their nearly year-long mission there as planned. The two spacecraft, dubbed "Ebb" and "Flow", crashed into a mountain near the crater Goldschmidt in the Moon's north polar regions. Ebb crashed into the mountain at 5:28:51 pm EST (2228:51 GMT) and Flow crashed nearby 30 seconds later. NASA announced the impact sites would be named after Sally Ride, the first American woman in space who passed away earlier this year; she led the development of cameras on the spacecraft used exclusively for educational purposes. The two spacecraft entered orbit around the Moon at the beginning of the year to map the Moon's gravity field, work that has created the most precise gravity map to date of the body and, in turn, giving scientists insights into its interior structure.
NASA's twin GRAIL spacecraft crashed into a mountain on the Moon Monday afternoon, completing their nearly year-long mission there as planned. The two spacecraft, dubbed "Ebb" and "Flow", crashed into a mountain near the crater Goldschmidt in the Moon's north polar regions. Ebb crashed into the mountain at 5:28:51 pm EST (2228:51 GMT) and Flow crashed nearby 30 seconds later. NASA announced the impact sites would be named after Sally Ride, the first American woman in space who passed away earlier this year; she led the development of cameras on the spacecraft used exclusively for educational purposes. The two spacecraft entered orbit around the Moon at the beginning of the year to map the Moon's gravity field, work that has created the most precise gravity map to date of the body and, in turn, giving scientists insights into its interior structure.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Thursday, May 28
Thales Alenia Space Submits LEO Cargo Return Bid
Aviation Week — 1:45 am ET (0545 GMT) EU Satellite Proposal Makes Limited Room for Musk’s Starlink
Bloomberg News — 1:43 am ET (0543 GMT) European companies to get bulk of mobile satellite spectrum in EU tech push
Reuters — 1:42 am ET (0542 GMT) Space Force awards $2.29B deal to SpaceX to accelerate ‘backbone’ SATCOM network
Defensescoop — 1:40 am ET (0540 GMT) Dept. of Air Force ‘still working’ to sort space programs into acquisition portfolios: Ainsworth
Breaking Defense — 1:40 am ET (0540 GMT) |
