HTTP:: LCROSS Manages to Identify Centaurus Crater
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Yesterday, October 9, the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) collapsed into the Cabeus crater at the lunar south pole, just minutes after it dropped its spent Centaurus upper stage at the same location. Just before impacting the ground, the Science team at the Ames Research Center reported that it had seen the impact crater left behind by the rocket stage, although details of the actual impact are sketchy at this point. Friday's impact may have been a disappointment for those waiting for a huge explosion to be visible, Space reports. “We saw a crater. We saw a flash. So something had to happen in between,†NASA's principal investigator, Tony Colaprete, said yesterday. The $79-million lunar probe, which took off on the same delivery system as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), carried a suite of nine instruments, including high-speed cameras and spectrometers, so chances are that it managed to snap a considerable number of photos before plungi!
ng to its demise, several kilometers away from the Centaurus impact site. The crater left behind by the upper stage is, as predicted, about 66 feet (20 meters) in diameter. Over the past few weeks, NASA experts have warned Earth-based observers that detecting the plume of debris ejected by the Centaurus stage at an estimated heig...
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http://news.softpedia.com/news/LCROSS-Manages-to-Identify-Centaurus-Crater-123936.shtml
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