Saturday, August 27, 2011

So if it's not cheese, what IS the moon made of? Nasa hopes twin spacecraft will reveal the answer

Man may have landed on the moon 42 years ago, but we don't yet know what it's made of or how exactly it was formed.

Nasa hopes to change this with the launch of two spacecraft towards are nearest cosmic neighbour.

The GRAIL mission (Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory) will place the probes in the same orbit around our natural satellite.

Moon

The Grail spacecraft will fly in tandem around the moon. They will send measurements back to Earth that will map the satellite's gravitational field

The payload (made up of two spacecraft) is added to the GRAIL booster

The payload (made up of two spacecraft) is added to the GRAIL booster. It is slated to launch on September 8

The dynamic duo will orbit the moon to determine the structure of the lunar interior from crust to core and to advance understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon.

They will do this by mapping the moon's gravitational field.

As two probes fly over areas of greater and lesser gravity - caused by features like mountains and craters - they will move a little towards and away from each other.

The distance will be calculated by the Lunar Gravity Ranging System, which will measure changes down to a few microns - about the diameter of a red blood cell.

An instrument aboard each craft will then measure the changes in their relative velocity very precisely.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2030529/GRAIL-mission-What-IS-moon-Nasa-hopes-twin-spacecraft-reveal-answer.html#ixzz1WEZbFEl5

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