NASA "Bombing" Moon Again Today. 5:28 p.m. EST Monday (Dec. 17)

NASA is at it again, crashing probes into the lunar surface.

The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, mission will come to an end at 5:28 p.m. EST Monday (Dec. 17) when the twin spacecraft crash into a mountain near the moon's north pole after nearly a year in lunar orbit.
A pair of robotic space probes circling the moon to reveal what is inside will make suicidal plunges to the lunar surface today, a planned -- albeit dramatic -- finale to a mission that is giving scientists new insights into how the solar system evolved.

Is it possible that they are destroying things before Branson and his pals get up there to have a look around?
As many here on ATS will posit, 'Are they destroying more "evidence"?'
Original site -->news.discovery.com...

The duo have been formation-flying to map the moon’s gravity, an innovative technique that has revealed a lunar crust that is thinner and far more deeply fractured than scientists expected and an extensive underground system of lava-filled cracks, the first direct evidence that the moon expanded after it was formed.

The GRAIL spacecraft, nicknamed Ebb and Flow, completed their primary mapping mission in May, flying about 34 miles above the lunar surface. By precisely and continuously measuring the distance between the two probes, scientists were able to map the moon’s gravity, revealing its interior structure. The distance changed slightly as the leading spacecraft and then the following one sped up or slowed down as they flew over denser or less-dense regions of the moon in response to the gravitational tugging.

The crash site was selected to avoid the possibility that the probes would crash into any artifacts left behind by the Apollo and other lunar missions.
The spacecraft will hit the surface at about 3,760 mph. No pictures are expected because the region will be in darkness at the time of impact.

These things are set up years in advance, why would they choose a time when viewing the impact would be impossible???
I don't know if i believe or not, but sometimes I wonder....

Or maybe Moon Nazis



Wish they had a HD live feed camera on those bombs or maybe they do?

The GRAIL probes were always supposed to be crashed into the Moon in a controlled manner once their mission was complete. They're flying only a few dozen miles above the surface of the Moon and have almost completely run out of fuel but rather than let them just fall wherever NASA are using them to embark upon once last piece of science. The LRO will study the the ejecta and elements thrown up from the impacts which will shed light on the make-up of the Lunar regolith.

There's no conspiracy here, no destroying of evidence and no veil of secrecy. Just science doing what it does best.

reply to post by NoExpert


I disagree with some of it..



Crashing those within sight would also be scientific interesting.
Crashing it out of sight seems a bit strange, or dumb.. A missed opportunity to learn more about the moon.



Unless of-course "they" can see (Another satellite, or other equipment) the impact, but don't want to share it with the other earthlings...

Conclusion: Either dumb.. Or a conspiracy! :-)

Originally posted by EartOccupant
reply to post by NoExpert

 

I disagree with some of it..



Crashing those within sight would also be scientific interesting.
Crashing it out of sight seems a bit strange, or dumb.. A missed opportunity to learn more about the moon.



Unless of-course "they" can see (Another satellite, or other equipment) the impact, but don't want to share it with the other earthlings...

Conclusion: Either dumb.. Or a conspiracy! :-)

edit on 17-12-2012 by EartOccupant because: Spelling

I don't think you quite understand. Being able to directly observe the impacts would offer absolutely nothing of scientific value. All of the data that NASA will collect will be through the LRO already in orbit around the Moon. Even if the two probes were crashed during a full Moon, the flash produced wouldn't be visible from the Earth, these are probes less than half the size of a car and are impacting at a shallow angle into a ridge.

100kg of foil, circuit boards and wires... Not realy an efficient weapon for destroying anything is it?

reply to post by EartOccupant

Crashing it out of sight seems a bit strange, or dumb.. A missed opportunity to learn more about the moon.

It isn't strange at all...

Since Dec. 6, the GRAIL satellites, nicknamed Ebb and Flow, have moved even closer to the moon, flying at a mean altitude of less than 10 miles and buzzing just a few miles above the moon's highest peaks, according to Zuber.

The orbits of the GRAIL satellites are too unstable to keep the spacecraft flying without regular help from rocket thrusters. With the satellites low on propellant, the probes would impact the moon naturally, officials said.

Before impacting the moon Monday, the spacecraft will burn their rocket engines to empty their fuel tanks, an engineering experiment designed to refine techniques to estimate propellant quantities on satellites.

www.spaceflightnow.com...

Not so dumb either...

reply to post by NoExpert


Indeed I'm no expert ;-)

But I do know we have equipment to analyse the content and composition of things in the universe (gas clouds, atmospheres etc) from far far away, just by looking at them with camera's and other frequency analyzers..

It would not surprise me, they actually do not want to see (for instance China) or other organisations capable of such matters to be able to collect data from the impact, due to strategic, scientific..and at the and money and power reasons.

So I think I do understand.

reply to post by EartOccupant

Or a conspiracy! :-)

Not much of a conspiracy when they tell you exactly what they are going to do..

reply to post by tsurfer2000h


There is always something to be learned.

I read in the paper this morning that the satellites crashing into the moon are named Ebb and Flow.

Apparently the names were chosen by some students in a contest.

No idea if the names might have signfigance beyond the obvious tidal connection.

Originally posted by EartOccupant
reply to post by NoExpert

 

Indeed I'm no expert ;-)

But I do know we have equipment to analyse the content and composition of things in the universe (gas clouds, atmospheres etc) from far far away, just by looking at them with camera's and other frequency analyzers..

It would not surprise me, they actually do not want to see (for instance China) or other organisations capable of such matters to be able to collect data from the impact, due to strategic, scientific..and at the and money and power reasons.

So I think I do understand.

Like I said, the impact and subsequent plume would not be visible from the Earth so there is nothing to protect and trying to compare the observation of gas clouds trillions of miles across with a quick impact of a washing machine isn't exactly applicable. Such observations are made using extremely powerful telescopes over the course of various nights and it wouldn't be possible with these quick, split second impacts.

Ok Tnx!

One less to worry about ;-)

Is it possible that they are destroying things before Branson and his pals get up there to have a look around?

What 'things' are you talking about. Branson is planing to put people in very low orbit around the earth not send them to the moon.

Originally posted by Atzil321
100kg of foil, circuit boards and wires... Not realy an efficient weapon for destroying anything is it?

But a penny from the empire state building could completely saw a man in half? 3,700+ km per hour hitting a surface, what is it made of?? Metal?? Yeah a pretty big amount of damage in my eyes......Unless I am way off here!

reply to post by Lucas73


They are bombing alien bases on the moon....isn't that obvious enough to anyone???

Lately, they have been bombing "our" Moon a lot...

I wonder what they hit and with what for real.

reply to post by Skywatcher2011


If there were alien bases on the moon, wouldn't they have a more advanced technology than us? Couldn't they see these probes coming way ahead of time?

reply to post by windword


You are right, they probably have deflector shields on their bases....which reminds me why there are so many claimed UFO visits to Earth...our weapons are a mosquito bite for them.

Is anyone else watching this live? Only another few minutes before the probes make contact.

www.ustream.tv...