Missourian
Diamond Member
GRAIL has two one-second launch windows on Sept. 8; it can lift off at either 8:37 a.m. or 9:16 a.m. EDT (1237 or 1316 GMT). The launch period extends until Oct. 19.
During NASA's Apollo missions, astronauts reached the moon just a few days after blasting off. But the two GRAIL (Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory) spacecraft will take nearly four months to get there.The GRAIL A probe should settle into lunar orbit on Dec. 31, with its twin GRAIL B arriving a day later.
The $496 million spacecraft are taking a long, looping trip via the sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1, a gravitationally stable spot between our planet and the sun. This route is energy-efficient, researchers said, helping keep the mission's costs down.
The two GRAIL probes will settle into polar orbits just 34 miles (55 kilometers) above the lunar surface and essentially chase each around the moon.
The distance between the twin spacecraft will change as they orbit, owing to regional gravitational differences on the moon. The spacecraft will be able to pick up these distance differences, and with incredible precision — less than the width of a human red blood cell, Zuber said.
NASA Prepares Twin Moon Probes for Launch | | NASA & GRAIL Mission | Moon Structure & Formation | Space.com
Better video here @ Space.com : Lumpy Gravity Has The Moon - GRAIL to Learn Luna | Space.com
During NASA's Apollo missions, astronauts reached the moon just a few days after blasting off. But the two GRAIL (Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory) spacecraft will take nearly four months to get there.The GRAIL A probe should settle into lunar orbit on Dec. 31, with its twin GRAIL B arriving a day later.
The $496 million spacecraft are taking a long, looping trip via the sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1, a gravitationally stable spot between our planet and the sun. This route is energy-efficient, researchers said, helping keep the mission's costs down.
The two GRAIL probes will settle into polar orbits just 34 miles (55 kilometers) above the lunar surface and essentially chase each around the moon.
The distance between the twin spacecraft will change as they orbit, owing to regional gravitational differences on the moon. The spacecraft will be able to pick up these distance differences, and with incredible precision — less than the width of a human red blood cell, Zuber said.
NASA Prepares Twin Moon Probes for Launch | | NASA & GRAIL Mission | Moon Structure & Formation | Space.com
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO6Gflxs6Io&feature=youtube_gdata_player]What's Up Sept: The moon and GRAIL launch - YouTube[/ame]
Better video here @ Space.com : Lumpy Gravity Has The Moon - GRAIL to Learn Luna | Space.com
Thanks for the update!
