NASA Probes Prepare for Mission-Ending Moon Impact

The two probes that make up NASA's GRAIL mission, which precisely measured the gravitational field of the Moon to create a gravity map, will crash into the Moon tomorrow Dec 17 at about 2:28 p.m. PST (5:28 p.m. EST, 10:28 p.m. UTC). The probes will impact a mountain side near the lunar north pole. Both spacecraft will hit the surface at 3,760 mph (1.7 kilometers per second). No imagery of the impact is expected because the region will be in shadow at the time.

As a final test, the probes will burn off the remaining fuel, to help scientists gauge how much fuel the probes used up during the mission and how much was left. This helps them plan future mission, because fuel meters don't work in zero-g and scientists have to guess in advance how much fuel is needed for a particular mission.

www.nasa.gov...

reply to post by wildespace


The impact will cause an uproar with the aliens living inside the moon. They will take it as a threat to their spaceship and attack on the 21st.


Anyway, I wish they could capture it on camera. That'd be so cool to see.

reply to post by iamhobo


I thought LRO could capture the impact flash (if there's going to be one). Perhaps some time later it can photograph the impact site to see what craters they left.

By the way, this reminded me of this shot from an old movie:





Some people right now are going "NASA leave the Moon alone, you bastards!"