NASA Spacecraft Impacts Lunar Crater in Search for Water Ice

NASA NEWS:

NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, created twin impacts on the moon's surface early Friday in a search for water ice. Scientists will analyze data from the spacecraft's instruments to assess whether water ice is present.

The satellite traveled 5.6 million miles during an historic 113-day mission that ended in the Cabeus crater, a permanently shadowed region near the moon's south pole. The spacecraft was launched June 18 as a companion mission to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"The LCROSS science instruments worked exceedingly well and returned a wealth of data that will greatly improve our understanding of our closest celestial neighbor," said Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS principal investigator and project scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "The team is excited to dive into data."

NASA plan to crash unmanned spacecraft on the Moon

On Friday morning, an unmanned spacecraft launched in June will crash into the moon's surface. On purpose.
NASA wants to know if the twin impacts of the Lunar Crater Observation and its Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) will reveal any ice or water under the moon's surface. The cosmic collisions are expected to kick up tons of moon dirt in giant debris plumes that will then be scanned for signs of water ice suspected to be buried beneath the floor of a permanently shadowed crater at the lunar south pole. NASA will start broadcasting the event live on NASA TV at 6:30 a.m. EDT (1030 GMT).
More than a few folks are wondering how much the soon-to-be-destroyed LCROSS costs. Answer: $79 million, according to Christian Science Monitor.