Posted on 07/04/2009 1:49:32 PM PDT by NorwegianViking
NASA's mission to bomb the Moon NASA will tomorrow launch a spectacular mission to bomb the Moon. Their LCROSS mission will blast off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying a missile that will blast a hole in the lunar surface at twice the speed of a bullet. The missile, a Centaur rocket, will be steered by a shepherding spacecraft that will guide it towards its target - a crater close to the Moon's south pole. Scientists expect the blast to be so powerful that a huge plume of debris will be ejected.
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NASA's mission to bomb the Moon
NASA will tomorrow launch a spectacular mission to bomb the Moon. Their LCROSS mission will blast off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying a missile that will blast a hole in the lunar surface at twice the speed of a bullet.
The missile, a Centaur rocket, will be steered by a shepherding spacecraft that will guide it towards its target - a crater close to the Moon's south pole.
Scientists expect the blast to be so powerful that a huge plume of debris will be ejected.
The attack on the Moon is not a declaration of war or act of wanton vandalism. Space scientists want to see if any water ice or vapour is revealed in the cloud of debris.
Though the Moon mostly a dry airless desert, they believe ice could be trapped in crater shadows near the south pole which never receive any sunlight. If so it could provide vital supplies for a manned moonbase.
Last year, British scientists identified regions where water might be found on the Moon and estimated that there could be enough to fill one of Europe's largest reservoirs.
The spacecraft will not head straight for the Moon. First it will orbit the Earth a number of times while its precise target is identified. Finally, it will send the missile into the Moon at twice the speed of a bullet on October 8.
The shepherding spacecraft will follow close behind, taking pictures and analysing the ejected debris as it looks for evidence of water. It has just four minutes to do this before it crashes into the Moon itself, producing a spectacular explosion that should be visible in amateur astronomers' telescopes.
It is a busy time for Moon crashes. Last week Japan's Kaguya probe collided with the Moon at the end of its own mission.
The LCROSS mission - it stands for Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite - will launch on an Atlas V rocket together with another spacecraft, called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
The orbiter will circle the Moon for at least a year searching for potential landing sites for astronauts when they return there in the next decade. It will also look for suitable materials that might support a colony.
The dual mission was due to blast off today but was delayed to make way for the shuttle Endeavour. However, another hydrogen leak means that the shuttle launch has now been delayed until next mont
The problem isn’t the aliens on the moon ... it’s the Klingons on Uranus.
Well...ya got me there.
We are very sorry.
No blood for, um, water!
... releasing it's contents of ten trillion barrels of light sweet crude into a massive space oil slick.
Sounds like the end of Arthur Clarke's "The Nine Billion Names of God":
Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.
Here’s the NASA link: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2009/09-68AR.html
The LCROSS mission is providing mission updates on Twitter at:
http://www.twitter.com/lcross_nasa
For more information about NASA’s LCROSS mission, visit:
Naw, but it might knock the moon out of earth orbit. Just think, it will lead to global warming, alter ocean tides, eliminate the full moon violence theories and that damned face will not be smiling upon us! /S
Quick!!! Someone write a sternly worded letter to NASA!!!!
I am deeply worried about human ignorance. The attempt to bomb moon is the height of human ignorance. Our material quest of nature without understanding the Truth of Nature has already rendered earth and cosmos unstable. If you stand back and observe, we note that the natural catastrophes have both increased in number and magnitude in parallel to explosion of material knowledge and material exploitation of nature. It could be suicidal to stress nature without first understanding the Truth of Nature, its interrelationship, oneness and its working. I write this comment as a scientist who worked in the field of biotechnology and set out seek Truth of Nature. There is an important point to which I wish to call worlds attention. Earth is balanced by two opposing cycles of energy. When west awakes to sunlight and goes into disorder, east simultaneously sleeps to darkness and goes into order vice-versa. These opposing cycle maintain order and temperature of the world. The increase in temperature and consequent climatic catastrophes we are observing can be linked to the fact we have upset the energy cycle of nature. Unless humanity awakens to this truth, we are bound to see some of the worst natural catastrophes and mother earth’s destructive reactions. I speak to you from the back drop of over two decades of selfless research that gave me insight into Truth of Nature and its functioning. I call upon the media and intellectuals in the Temples of Science to look at it. The site where the information exist is “Awakening to Truth” http://sites.google.com/site/awakeningtotruth
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