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Moon Crashers
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Moon Crashers |
| Explanation |
On July 31, 1964, Ranger 7 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/database/www-nmc?64-041A ] crashed into the Moon. Seventeen minutes before [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990730.html ] impact it snapped this picture - the first image of the Moon [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/ra7_b001.html ] ever taken by a U.S. spacecraft. Of course Ranger 7 was intended to crash, transmitting close-up pictures of the lunar surface during its final moments. The Ranger program's [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/ranger.html ] goal was to begin high resolution mapping of the lunar surface in preparation for a future lunar landing [ http://www.nasm.edu/APOLLO/ ]. This first image covered 360 kilometers from top to bottom and is centered in the Mare [ http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/science/geography_items/mare.html ] Nubium (Sea of Clouds). The large crater at middle right, Alphonsus [ http://lunarprospector.arc.nasa.gov/science/ geography_items/carters/craters_a.html ], is 108 kilometers in diameter. On July 31, 1999, Lunar Prospector crashed [ http://www.lunarimpact.com/ ] into the Moon. During its successful 1 year mission to map the Moon's global properties from orbit, Lunar Prospector confirmed indications that water-ice [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/ice/ice_moon.html ] could be trapped in permanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles. Its mission complete, controllers intentionally targeted [ http://science.nasa.gov/current/event/ast04jun99_2.htm ] the spacecraft to impact a crater wall, hoping that water could be more directly detected in the resulting debris cloud - although the chances of a successful detection were considered low. Astronomers [ http://www.ae.utexas.edu/~cfpl/lunar/observations.html ] analyzing the data recently announced [ http://www.ae.utexas.edu/~cfpl/lunar/pressrelease/discussion.html ] that no visible signature of water was found, so the tantalizing case for water on the Moon remains open [ http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast13oct99_1.htm ]. |
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