William Atkins
Saturday, 17 October 2009 20:34
Science -
Space
Page 2 of 3
The
LA Times article contains a nice image of the Cabeus crater only seconds after the impact of the rocket—which shows the plume visible above the crash site.
And, the October 16, 2009
NPR article “
Next Stop: The Moon” quoted NASA LCROSS project scientist Anthony Colaprete as saying,
“I can certainly report there was an impact. We saw the impact. We saw the crater. And we got good measurements, spectroscopic measurements — which is what we needed — of the impact event."
NASA scientists are now saying that the slow speed (about 5,600 miles per hour) of the Centaur rocket resulted in the smaller altitude of the debris plume, which resulted in it not being seen on the morning of the crash.
However, enhanced composite images released by NASA on Friday, October 16, 2009, show a faint plume that was not visible on the earlier un-enhanced pictures we saw on the morning of the crash.
These newly released images show that a new crater on the Moon, made artificially by humans from the rocket, is about 28 meters (92 feet) wide.
It is still not known whether the plume contained any water—which is the primary reason for the destruction of the Centaur rocket onto the lunar surface.
The images of the resulting plume of debris from the LCROSS spacecraft are still being analyzed by NASA scientists to see if water was present, along with other materials.
Page three concludes.
