NASA selects Cabeus A as lunar impact site for LCROSS

William Atkins
Saturday, 12 September 2009 18:54

Science - Space

The collision site for the NASA spacecraft Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) has been selected by a team of lunar scientists. The lunar crater selected for the impact is called Cabeus A.


The September 11, 2009 NASA media brief “NASA Selects Target Crater for Lunar Impact” states that a specific site has been selected by the lunar science community as the impact location for the spacecraft.

A map showing various prospective impact sites is shown at this (above) Science@NASA website.

The LCROSS spacecraft will send its exhausted Centaur upper-stage rocket to the selected site—lunar crater Cabeus A—on October 9, 2009, at 7:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

The impact will send up a plume of debris that will be analyzed by astronomers and scientists back on Earth. Of prime importance, they hope to be able to find water-ice within the debris field.

The impact of the rocket with the lunar surface will also be observed by LCROSS for analysis back on Earth. In fact, the LCROSS spacecraft will fly through the plume in order to take measurements of the physical characteristics of the debris plume.

Then, the LROSS spacecraft, itself, will be directed to crash into Cabeus A, which will also send up a debris plume. The plume will again be analyzed by ground- and space-based instruments.

Cabeus A is located in the southern hemisphere of the Moon, near its southern pole. Almost always in darkness, it lies west of the crater Malapert and south-southwest of the crater Newton at: 82.2 degrees South latitude and 39.1 degrees West longitude.

Further information on the LRO/LCROSS mission is found on the June 20, 2009 iTWire article "U.S. Moon exploration begins with LRO/LCROSS liftoff."

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