Many thanks to lunar boffin Dr Lucy Rogers, who also happens to be Chairman of the Vectis Astronomical Society, for this article on the exciting developments happening in space today. Ed
A spacecraft will plunge into the surface of the moon at just after 12:30 this afternoon.
Four minutes later, a second spacecraft will follow it. This is not accidental.
NASA has sent the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (“LCROSS” for short) and its Centaur booster rocket on a collision course for a reason. The spectacular double-impact is designed to “unearth” signs of frozen lunar water.
You can watch the event live on NASA TV. NASA will begin coverage at 11:15 BST.
The first hour or so, pre-impact, will offer expert commentary, status reports from mission control and camera views from the spacecraft.
The actual impacts start at 12:30 BST, when the Centaur rocket will strike first, transforming 2200 kg of mass and 10 billion joules of kinetic energy into a blinding flash of heat and light. Researchers expect the impact to throw up a plume of debris as high as 10 km.
The plume will be visible from the Earth – but not from the UK. As the moon will not yet have risen here, amateur astronomers on this side of the Earth will not get to see it through their own telescopes.
Close behind, the 700 kg LCROSS satellite will photograph the collision for NASA TV and then fly right through the debris plume, before it too crashes, sending another, smaller debris plume over the rim of the crater.
The impact site is crater Cabeus near the Moon’s south pole. “If there’s water there, or anything else interesting, we’ll find it,” says Tony Colaprete of NASA Ames, the mission’s principal investigator.
If you want to learn more about astronomy, visit the Isle of Wight Observatory at Watery Lane, Newchurch, which is open to the public every Thursday from 7:30pm. Visit our Website for more details.
Image: NASA
