NASA Crashes Into the Moon -- But Where Are the Pics?

The public is disappointed by lack of flashy impact debris from NASA's lunar impactors, but scientists remain elated

By Jeremy Hsu Posted 10.09.2009 at 11:30 am 6 Comments

Just Before Impact LCROSS gets ready for its intimate closeup with the moon NASA

NASA's double sledgehammer shot to the moon succeeded early this morning when an empty rocket stage and a lunar probe each crashed into separate craters. But the host of telescopes and other instruments pointed at the impact sites did not immediately spot huge plumes of lunar debris.

Still, the LCROSS probe managed to take pictures all the way down during its suicidal plunge as it followed behind the larger Centaur rocket stage by four minutes. SPACE.com reports that more than 300 astronomers and amateur sky watchers clapped and gasped as the impact site grew large and then went white on a 40-foot viewing screen at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

The impacts follow recent confirmation of water within the uppermost layers of the lunar regolith. Scientists are now eager to find more water ice possibly hidden within the shadowed lunar craters, or deeper within the moon's interior.

Some NASA officials told AP that public expectations may have risen too high for a Hollywood-style impact splash. But all scientific instruments worked perfectly as the doomed NASA impactors went in for their lunar strikes, and several observatories reported having captured the moments of impact at the lunar south pole.

The collected data from around the world will help the LCROSS science team figure out whether the impacts revealed more water ice on the moon. That analysis is expected to take a few weeks, but could prove significant for future human missions to the moon.

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6 Comments

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animemaster

10/09/09 at 2:21 pm

I saw Santa Claus 5:53, so when its not Christmas he works for NASA?

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NeilSielski

10/09/09 at 3:07 pm

There is a longer video, it shows the flight director reject a high 5 from another worker person :0

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quasi44

10/11/09 at 4:20 pm

People are so forgetful. Nasa has had these 'lapses in enthusiasm' before, usually accompanied by a huge media buildup. Apparently, no one bothered to tell the media that if the best hopes are realized, there won't be as much of a show, as the water content of the soft rock surface could dampen the impact, thereby reducing the visual data, which has NO relevance whatever to the experiment.

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quasi44

10/11/09 at 4:30 pm

just goes to show that people care more about their next video clip than their own greatgrandkids' survival.

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Voices1776

10/12/09 at 3:24 pm

Once again millions of our dollars sent to the moon and not one clear picture. Why did they cut to those graphic shots?

They fuel the conspiracy theories themselves by never showing us any clear pictures of the moon.

This is a joke.

And where is the rocket that was suppose to be travelling in front of it?

The picture is blurry and they cut it off before the impact. Who do they think they are fooling with this crap?

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quasi44

10/13/09 at 1:01 pm

Voices1776, you can think it's crap if you like, personally I'm against the big accelerator projects for right now; but I'll tell ya, bud, getting a lunar outpost up and running is for real, and WILL take place whether there is a lot of water, or a little. It IS gonna happen.