All Things Considered

Spacecraft Crashes Into Moon In Search Of Water

Published October 9, 2009 8:45 AM

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NASA crashed a piece of space junk into the moon's south pole this morning to find out if the dark, cold craters there contain water in the form of ice.

The impact of the 2.2-ton empty rocket part kicked up a cloud of dust. Then, a spacecraft flew down through that dust, checking for water, and sent data and live footage of the impact back to Earth, before crashing into the moon as well.

NASA broadcast the images on its Web site, but it wasn't as dramatic as some had hoped — just a scene full of gray craters that slowly got bigger and bigger as the spacecraft seemed to creep toward the moon frame by frame.

Viewers did not see a flash from the impact itself or the cloud of dust that followed, although NASA did say the spacecraft's instruments appeared to be working normally.

Researchers are now analyzing the data gathered from the event, NASA said, and expect to know for certain if the impact dislodged any water in about two weeks.

Crashing Into A Crater

The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, mission blasted off in June. Its target was a dark, cold, permanently shadowed crater near the moon's south pole. Scientists suspect that craters like this one might contain water in the form of ice.

At 7:31 a.m. EDT, the LCROSS mission sent an empty rocket part that weighs as much as a large SUV crashing into the target crater at around 5,600 mph.

"It will kick up whatever is on the floor of the crater. That may very well include water ice. That is the whole point of the mission," Dan Andrews, NASA's project manager for LCROSS, said before the impact.

Four minutes later, an observation spacecraft equipped with five cameras and four other scientific instruments hit the lunar surface. It was to fly right through the plume created by the first impact, and the instruments were to study the cloud's composition and send data back to Earth in real time.

All the information had to come back immediately because the probe had only minutes to gather data before crashing into the moon. "And game over, we're done," Andrews said.

Looking For Water

Back on Earth, professional observatories and amateur astronomy groups were watching for the plume through telescopes. The Hubble Space Telescope was keeping an eye on the impact.

At Los Angeles' Griffith Observatory, people who got up before dawn to look for the crash threw confused looks at each other instead, with one telescope demonstrator calling the celestial show "anticlimactic."

"I was hoping we'd see a flash or a flare," said Jim McMahon.

The moon was expected to be left with a new crater about 60 feet wide and as deep as a swimming pool.

NASA has emphasized that the impact won't hurt the moon, which is used to getting hit by space objects. It has no atmosphere to protect it and constantly gets bombarded by all kinds of meteorites, large and small.

Already Calling It A Success

Scientists hoped to know quickly if they've found evidence of stores of water stashed away in the moon's dark craters, and they began analyzing images and data immediately after the impact.

Anthony Colaprete, the NASA project scientist for this mission, said his team already knows enough to say that LCROSS was successful.

"I can certainly report there was an impact. We saw the impact. We saw the crater," he said. "And we got good measurements, spectroscopic measurements — which is what we needed — of the impact event."

Colaprete said it looks like they'll have the data they need to answer the question: Is water hidden inside the moon's darkest, coldest craters? He said it will be a while before they make any announcements.

"We've just got to sit back and be careful," he said. "Life is full of surprises. We want to be careful, not make a false negative or a false positive claim."

A Resource For Future Missions

This is of interest to NASA in part because future moon explorers might be able to make use of this resource.

Last month, scientists announced that they'd found evidence of small amounts of water spread over the surface of the moon. Although the finding was a surprise, researchers stressed that the soil on the lunar surface is drier than any desert on Earth.

The Obama administration has been reviewing NASA's current plan to build new rockets and capsules that could return humans to the moon by 2020. A panel of independent experts has reported that this goal is not feasible unless NASA's budget gets a major boost.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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MELISSA BLOCK, host:

This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block.

MICHELE NORRIS, host:

And I'm Michele Norris.

There's a classic silent film that shows a rocket zooming toward the man in the moon. It hits some smack in the eye. That was early science fiction. Well, this morning, NASA did something a little bit like that. It smashed an empty rocket into a cold, dark lunar crater near the moon's south pole. The goal was to kick up evidence of water in the form of ice, as NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce reports.

NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE: Moments before the big rocket part crashed into a lunar crater at more than 5,000 miles per hour, flight director Rusty Hunt asked his team at NASA's Ames Research Center in California if they were ready for the impact.

Unidentified Man #1: Payloader(ph), you go.

Unidentified Man #2: Go flight.

Unidentified Man #1: Science.

Unidentified Woman: Go.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: As the chunk of rocket hurdled down towards the lunar surface, another spacecraft followed. Its cameras and science instruments were sending images and data back to earth. NASA showed this footage live on the Internet. You could see grey craters slowly coming closer and closer until the big target crater Cabeus filled the screen with black shadows hiding its floor.

Unidentified Man #3: All stations, flight. Mark, send to our impact.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: But when the rocket hit, the footage didn't show a big explosion. The images just got fuzzy and disappeared. As planned, the observation spacecraft had crashed a few minutes after the first impact.

(Soundbite of applause)

GREENFIELDBOYCE: All around the country, people had gathered to watch NASA sock it to the moon. At the museum in Washington, D.C., NASA officials and people off the street viewed the footage on a big screen. John Gloraki(ph) of McLean, Virginia had come with his daughter and young son, who was wearing a spacesuit costume. Gloraki said the crash didn't look quite like he expected.

Mr. JOHN GLORAKI: I was waiting for the plume, actually, but I guess that comes later. So, yeah, it was pretty cool.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: The impact was expected to send a huge cloud of debris miles up above the crater's rim. But initial images didn't show that. At a press conference, mission managers said maybe the plume just didn't rise as high as they expected or it was at an angle.

Dr. ANTHONY COLAPRETE (Project Scientist, LCROSS): I guess I'm not necessarily surprised because I knew I would be surprised, if that makes any sense. I knew we were going some place that to expect what you're going to expect.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Anthony Colaprete is the project scientist for this mission, which is called LCROSS for Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite. His team said images were still being processed from the spacecraft and telescopes that were watching the crash. We'll be putting the latest pictures up at npr.org. Colaprete says they already know enough to say the mission was successful.

Dr. COLAPRETE: I can certainly report there was an impact. We saw the impact. We saw the crater. And we got good measurements, spectroscopic measurements, which is what we needed of the impact event.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: He says it looks like they'll have the data they need to answer the question, is water hidden inside the moon's darkest, coldest craters? He says it will be a while before they make any announcements. But reporters pressed Colaprete to say if any early signs of water had been found. One reporter asked if he would know if water is there later in the day.

Dr. COLAPRETE: I probably will, but I'm not going to tell you now.

(Soundbite of laughter)

GREENFIELDBOYCE: He says his team has to study the new information thoroughly.

Dr. COLAPRETE: We've just got to sit back and be careful. We don't want to -again, it's - life is full of surprises. We want to be careful, not make a false negative or a false positive claim.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Knowing if water is in the craters, and if so, how much, would be scientifically interesting, as well as potentially useful, as NASA plans future exploration efforts. Colaprete said his team would be working feverishly. But first, they were going to get some sleep. They've been up all night getting ready for their brief one, two punch to the moon.

Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

Source: NPR

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