Silver Moon: Recent LCROSS Results Show Silver, Even More Water in Cabeus Crater November 26, 2010
Posted by Nick Azer in : Cabeus, LCROSS, NASA, silver, water , add a commentRecent results from NASA’s 2009 LCROSS mission (the famous “moon bombing”) have shown that the targeted crater continues to be full of surprises.
The mission—in which NASA crashed a spent rocket stage into a permanently-dark crater, and analyzed the resulting plume—had produced intial results indicating quite a bit of water ice, but now further results have been published showing not only more water than some parts of Earth have, but also elements like mercury and even silver.
“Where we impacted, up to 20 percent was something other than dirt. It was ices, volatiles, light metals. That was a surprise, that you had so much of this material in there.” -Tony Colaprete, LCROSS mission principal investigator, “Moon Crater Has More Water Than Parts of Earth“, Space.com
These materials probably arrived via billions of years’ worth of meteor, comet, and other impacts.
Huge quantities of water ice have been discovered elsewhere on the Moon in the past year, showing that a moon once thought to be dry has remarkable natural resources. Water can be processed for cost-effective rocket fuel (via its hydrogen and oxygen), and now with resources like silver turning up…
If there’s anything the moon has shown us in the past year, it’s that we only have an initial understanding of its resources. The prospects for lunar mining have been increasingly steadily, and they were already pretty good to begin with (with helium-3, water ice, lunar solar power, silicon, and more).
These sort of large-scale discoveries of water ice would have been pretty unthinkable even two years ago; so what kind of other resource discoveries could be waiting around the corner? An already bright frontier continues to get more interesting by the day…
And with that, here’s a favorite song of mine which is now a lot more technically accurate than it used to be:
Orbiting Atlas #2: Cabeus December 21, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Cabeus, LCROSS, NASA, Orbiting Atlas , add a commentFor our second exploration of notable locations on the Moon, we look at the site of NASA’s famous “Moon Bombing” with its LCROSS craft…
Cabeus
A crater enveloped in deep shadow, about 80 miles north of Shackleton and the lunar South Pole (and ~1,000 miles south of the nearest Mare), Cabeus had drawn a lot of attention because that permanent shadow meant a possibility of valuable water ice.
In October 2009, NASA proceeded to explore the possibility by crashing an LCROSS payload and its spent Centaur rocket into the darkness of Cabeus to try and stir up some of that ice. Turns out that “moon bombing” was successful—water was found in impressive quantities.
This makes the lunar south pole, already a prime target for colonial efforts, even more valuable a location. With only that short 80 miles seperating the solar-rich Shackleton rim and Cabeus’ water holdings, this region could rapidly become one of the most well-developed areas of the colonial Moon—the next New England? :)
Here’s a video of the moon bombing (embedded below), enhanced by Zebonka on Youtube to show the impact flash; and also, check out this brief video that gives a great feel of the location of Cabeus!
LCROSS Impact Results–Water Was Found! November 14, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Cabeus, LCROSS, NASA, Polar ice, private sector, water , 2comments
NASA has released the preliminary results from the LCROSS “moon bombing” impact, and the news is that water has indeed been found!
“‘Multiple lines of evidence show water was present in both the high angle vapor plume and the ejecta curtain created by the LCROSS Centaur impact. The concentration and distribution of water and other substances requires further analysis, but it is safe to say Cabeus holds water.’” -Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS project scientist
With mission accomplished, and a big new financial motivator for companies (water) having been confirmed several times over, things are really beginning to heat up for NASA and the private sector (the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, matched by NASA for a $60 million total? Drool…)
"Moon Bombing" Plume Spotted; LCROSS Team "Blown Away" by Data October 17, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Cabeus, LCROSS, NASA, Polar ice, water , 2comments
NASA has announced that an alternate camera from the LCROSS caught an image of the plume from NASA’s recent “moon bombing”—and that good data was returned from the mission:
“We are blown away by the data returned…the team is working hard on the analysis and the data appear to be of very high quality.”- Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS principal investigator and project scientist, “NASA’S LCROSS Captures All Phases of Centaur Impact”
In fact, all three phases of the impact–the impact flash, the plume, and the creation of the Centaur’s crater—wer captured, though the expcted 12-mile-high plume ended up only being one mile high. Still, besides a lack of on-the-moment drama, it appears everything with the mission was a ‘smashing success’, and it should be exciting to see the data that unfolds in the next few weeks…
For more impact images, check out the press release and NASA’s gallery! :)
NASA's "Moon Bombing" For Water Ice Tonight—A Quick Explanation October 8, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : LCROSS, Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter, NASA, Obama, private sector, water , 1 comment so far
NASA’s surprisingly controversial “moon bombing” with the LCROSS craft is set for tonight, at 4:30am!
A lot of people (and I mean a lot–Twitter has been on fire , 38 Tweets on it in past ~30 seconds) are wondering why NASA’s doing this, and some are expressing levels of outrage.
A quick explanation: Water ice is important to moon colonies (and beyond—the oxygen and hydrogen can be used to make rocket propellant, which is incredibly expensive to launch off of Earth; and thus, the Moon could be a cost-effective ‘gas station’ for Mars and beyond), and this event tonight is a key study to whether it exists in shadowed craters sensors can’t see into. (See this great article from Universe Today for more on why water on the Moon is valuable.)
The LCROSS will drop it’s spent Centaur rocket (non-explosive, basically a large piece of metal) into the Cabeus A crater, and the LCROSS itself will follow into the crater, taking readings as it goes (and eventually impacts the same location).
The $79 million spent on the mission could pay itself back for the U.S.—private space development is a rapidly growing industry, one that Obama has suggested could be valuable to an economic turnaround. Companies are already set for a variety of commercial applications (including an extremely promising alternative energy, as explained there by Apollo 17 astronaut/geologist Jack Schmitt) , but the presence of valuable water ice gives them another lucrative motivation.
This will be a historic event—the mainstream-public attention alone has guaranteed that, and the successful discovery of water ice will be yet another spur to an already charging “base race” back to the Moon (for resources, this time) :)
You can watch the impact live on NASA TV at 4:30am PST (and there’s even a free watching event at OMSI here in Portland, OR.)
LCROSS Has New Crater in Crosshairs for Impact September 30, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Cabeus, LCROSS, Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter, NASA, water , 1 comment so far
NASA announced on Monday that the LCROSS‘ hairs have picked a new target for its Oct. 9th impact: the larger Cabeus crater instead of Cabeus A.
As you can see in the Google Moon image above, Cabeus is both near the south pole and deeply shadowed—increasing the chance for hidden water ice that the LCROSS’ moon-bombing (using one of its spent rockets) hopes to stir up.
The impact is occurring at 4:30am PST Friday, Oct. 9th—with viewing events you can join, including one here in Portland, OR at OMSI. (I’d go, but I’ll actually be at work…full-time graveyard shift :) ).
Keep your crosshairs targeted here for coverage of the impact and its results :)
LCROSS Performs First Swing-By of the Moon, With Video June 24, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : LCROSS, NASA, Youtube , add a comment
NASA’s LCROSS lunar satellite made its first swing-by of the Moon on Tuesday, complete with streaming video. The LCROSS will be swinging around both Earth and the Moon multiple times, as it eases into a trajectory from which it will create an impact with the Moon, analyzing the resulting plume for signs of water ice.
Below is a video from NASA Television of the flyby:
NASA's LRO/LCROSS Missions Successfully Launched! June 19, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Constellation, LCROSS, Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter, NASA , 1 comment so far
NASA’s twin lunar orbiter craft—the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS)—were successfully launched on Thursday aboard an Atlas V rocket.
This marks the first mission (well, missions) in Constellation to be launched, the beginning of a big new era for NASA (“America’s first step in a lasting return to the Moon”, as the launch video embedded below declares it.)
The LRO will aim it’s seven instruments (which I’ll be taking individual looks at here at Luna C/I) at the Moon to collect detailed information about its environment, in preparation for colonization (and potentially mining) efforts,;while the LCROSS is designed to use one of its rocket phases to create an impact in a deep-shadow crater, analyzing the material to see if there is water ice present there—a potentially “smashing success“.
Embedded below is a pretty spectacular video from NASA of the launch, from on board the rocket itself (check out the SpaceX Falcon 1 launch video for a similar, if even more astounding, view of a rapid departure from Earth) :
NASA's Dual LRO and LCROSS Mission Launches Coming Up Soon—June 17th! May 25, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : LCROSS, Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter, NASA , add a comment
An exciting step for NASA is coming up fast: the combined launch of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO; pictured above) and the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS; pictured below) is set for June 17th.
The two craft will orbit the moon, with the LRO taking measurements of potential environmental hazards, such as radiation and lunar dust (specifically, areas where the dust will be extra-charged and therefore even more of a nuisance than usual), and with the LCROSS creating an impact in a deep-shadow crater and studying the resulting plume to see if there’s potential water ice.
As the missions get underway, I’m going to be rolling out a lot of features here at Luna C/I covering many aspects of the craft, and the work they are looking to do. Should be exciting times (and a big PR time for Constellation), so save that date, and keep an eye out for updates and detailed looks to be beginning here soon :)