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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 13 October 2009 |
All you amateur astronomers could be in for a treat Friday Morning.
If all goes well, NASA will purposely crash its Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) into the Moon’s Cabeus crater on the south pole of our celestial satellite.
Friday morning the satellite, whose sole purpose is to crash, will follow its booster rocket into a planned plunge into the surface of the Moon, producing explosions and a plume of debris more than 10 miles high.
The plume should be visible to anyone observing the crash through a telescope with at least a 10-inch lens.
The impact should take place about 7:30 a.m. local time, which is right around daybreak and may make it hard for us to see. Fortunately, Kentucky is close to the Mississippi River, the demarcation line that NASA stated would provide better chances to watch. To have the best view you should plan to be in Hawaii Friday, as that will be the optimum location.
Unfortunately, the weather outlook is slated to be cloudy and full of rain, so even the best telescopes could prove to be useless.
But there is another way to view this unique event – NASA TV. If your cable or satellite provide carries the channel, there will be a live feed direct from the satellites’ cameras as it follows the booster rocket to the surface of the Moon.
Scientists plan to use LCROSS’ on board cameras and instruments to examine the plume of debris created when the booster impacts the surface for any traces of water.
You might think that this is a complete waste of money. And, on the surface I can’t argue. But, I do believe that if we ever plan to get off this rock we call Earth and explore the vast reaches of space, we have to take such steps, no matter how small.
If successful, the LCROSS mission will prove to be a vanguard toward our return to the Moon.
Think about it, after the mad rush and expense put forth to actually land a man on the moon in 1969, humans have not set foot there again for more than 36 years.
I don’t like to believe that the Moon landings were nothing more than a national muscle flexing exercise.
Admittedly, it was a very tense time when Apollo 11 first lifted off. We were in the midst of the Cold War and the Soviets had embarrassed us several times with their successes in space prior to our triumph.
But lost in the shuffle was the actual scientific import of the Apollo missions. So much information was gleaned that scientists are still pouring over some of the data.
As I have said many times before, we must be able to reach the Moon safely, consistently and cheaply before we can consider missions to Mars and beyond.
Our satellite will provide a basis for any future exploration.
To be human is to have the desire to explore. We cannot confine ourselves to one little rock in the vast interstellar garden that stretches out farther than we can even imagine. |
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