On October 9th at 4:30 am, NASA is going to smash a satellite into the moon Moon and thanks to Oakland's Chabot Space and Science Center, we're invited to come watch it live.
The LCROSS, or Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite was launched aboard an Atlas V back in June. The primary purpose of the mission is to gather data on the water believed to reside near the lunar poles. This information is vital for moving forward with our plans for revisiting the Moon and creating a permanent colony on the surface, which will hopefully act as our jumping off point for exploration of the whole solar system
The LCROSS mission launched last June aboard an Atlas V rocket, where it quickly settled into an elongated Earth orbit where it began mapping the lunar surface for the best available collision site. Just a few days ago, that site was announced; Cabeus A, a perpetually shadowed crater along the souther pole. The odds of finding water ice in such a location are believed to be very high, and we'll find out for sure shortly after the data starts coming in. The mission itself promises to be quite entertaining for us layman who just want to see a big explosion.
On final approach, the shepherding spacecraft and Centaur will separate. The Centaur will act as a heavy impactor to create a debris plume that will rise above the lunar surface. Projected impact at the lunar South Pole is currently: Oct 9, 2009 at 4:30 a.m. PDT. Following four minutes behind, the shepherding spacecraft will fly through the debris plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before impacting the lunar surface and creating a second debris plume.
The debris plumes are expected to be visible from Earth- and space-based telescopes 10-to-12 inches and larger.
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