LCROSS
VAXHeadroom answers, “How do satellites communicate?”
Our crazy rocket scientist VAXHeadroom answers the question ‘How do satellites communicate?’ VAX is a software engineer for spacecraft, so understanding how space communications work is pretty darned important! You can view the original interview with VAX right here on Spacevidcast and we’re excited to see what additional awesome content VAX comes up with.
Look for "Flood" of News This Week About Water on the Moon
Artist impression of LCROSS approaching the Moon. Credit: NASA
Water… Water Everywhere…
Most of us watched with interest as the LCROSS slammed into the moon October 9, 2009. Most of us saw… not much, admittedly. But NASA has been working at high speed to analyze data from the impact, and they have discovered water.
Yes, water. On the moon.
Image: LCROSS – NASA
This opens up a whole new avenue for space exploration, because with water already present on the moon we can set up a cost-efficient moon base from which to work.
Lunar Impactor Finds Clear Evidence of Water Ice on Moon
There is water on the moon, NASA confirmed today, and lots of it.
In the first look at results from the LCROSS mission, which sent a probe crashing into the Cabeus crater near the moon’s south pole, NASA’s main investigator said their instruments clearly detected water, despite the underwhelming plume.
LCROSS Confirms "Buckets"of Water on the Moon
NASA finds reservoir of water ice on the Moon!
NASA has found a significant amount of water ice on the Moon!
Holy Haleakala!
LCROSS plume detected, but not from Earth
When NASA slammed the 700 kg (1500 pound) Centaur rocket booster into the Moon on October 9, the hope was that it would make a plume visible from Earth. Terrestrials were disappointed, however, when none was seen.
However, a better view was to be had by LCROSS, the Lunar Crater Sensing and Observation spacecraft, which shepherded and closely followed the rocket booster, impacting itself just minutes later. From its much closer (and doomed) location it spotted both the plume and the flash of impact! Here’s the plume:
Moon Crash Plume Visible to Spacecraft But Not Earth Telescopes
Zoomed in image of the impact plume. The extent of the plume at 15 sec is approximately 6-8 km in diameter. Credit: NASA
More LCROSS
Locations of the Diviner LCROSS impact swaths overlain on a grayscale daytime thermal map of the Moon’s south polar region. Click for larger (~112k). Credit: Credit NASA/GSFC/UCLA
While a lot of others are “ho humming” the story, I’m still on the LCROSS thing. Ok so it didn’t show a big plume of fine particulate matter, I still say, barring any technical problems that would blind us, the findings are still significant even if there aren’t any.
