On New Year's Eve the first of two Nasa moon probes, Grail-A, will go into orbit around the moon. Its twin, Grail-B, will follow on New Year's day.
The $496 million mission has taken three months to reach the moon - travelling two million miles.
The Nasa team said they will not celebrate New Year's are both in orbit. 'We're on our way there,' said David Lehman of the Nasa Jet Propulsion laboratory.
The washing-machine-sized Grail craft are to 'map' the interior of the moon by scanning its gravity field - measured by its effects on the flight paths of the the two craft. Research published this year suggested that Earth once had dual moons that collided and formed the moon people gaze at today.
Nasa's Grail spacecraft will fire their engines to move into orbit on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day - the twin probes will eventually orbit at just 35 miles up and will 'map' the moon's gravity by measuring its effects on their flight paths
The pair will fly in formation at an altitude of 34 miles (54.72 kilometers) above the surface, 124 miles apart. The effects of the moon's uneven gravity on the probes will allow Nasa to form a picture of what is under the surface.
It's a mission that Nasa described as a 'journey to the centre of the moon', and will map the moon's interior 100 to 1000 times more accurately than any previous moon mission.
No comments:
Post a Comment