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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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18

NASA Crashes Probes Into Moon

Intentional crashes are part of hunt for water

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(AP) – NASA has successfully bulldozed two spacecraft into the moon's south pole in a search for hidden ice, but without the promised live photos. First, a 2.2-ton empty rocket hull smacked the moon's south pole at 7:31am. Four minutes later, the camera-laden space probe made its plunge to examine the kicked-up dust.

The smaller probe had five cameras and four other scientific instruments, and NASA had touted live photos on its website. But those images didn't surface. NASA officials say they are sure the two probes crashed but can't yet explain the photo glitch. Pictures were live until seconds before impact. The intentional crashes had been expected to kick up miles of lunar dust.

This image provided by NASA shows the first image taken of the moon from the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite Friday morning Oct. 9, 2009.
This image provided by NASA shows the first image taken of the moon from the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite Friday morning Oct. 9, 2009.   (AP Photo/NASA)
This image provided by NASA shows an image taken shortly after the Centaur rocket hit the moon.
This image provided by NASA shows an image taken shortly after the Centaur rocket hit the moon.   (AP Photo/NASA)
This artist's rendering provided by NASA via Brown University shows the Centaur upper stage rocket on a trajectory toward the moon.
This artist's rendering provided by NASA via Brown University shows the Centaur upper stage rocket on a trajectory toward the moon.   (AP Photo/NASA)
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18 comments
VIEWING:
 
hybrid
Oct 9, 09 7:11 AM CDT
i hope obama gets the nobel pizza prize for this, What an accomplishment Reply
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-6
IN RESPONSE:
kyleleitch
Oct 9, 09 1:33 PM CDT
Thumbs up.
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-1
divetrader
Oct 9, 09 7:12 AM CDT
Hey...we have millions of dollars of taxpayer money to burn. What say we crash one of our rockets into the moon? And better yet, let's crash two. We'll tell the public we are going to look for lunar water...heh heh heh! Reply
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-4
IN RESPONSE:
Rob
Oct 9, 09 11:49 AM CDT
Sigh . . . This kind of thinking is why research is flagging in the United States. The information gained by these "rocket crashes" will tell us about the Lunar surface and the near future possibilities of Lunar colonization. It's good science.
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+3
IN RESPONSE:
RockyPneumonia
Oct 9, 09 3:33 PM CDT
Rob, as you may have noticed, if you had 50 liberals and 50 conservatives, on any given issue concerning education or science, most of the liberals would come down for, and most of the conservatives would come down against, the side of knowledge.
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+3

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