Moon bombing?

[cassious]

I only caught the last half of a news clip but,NASA will be crashing a rocket into the moon to see if there's water there. It's supposed to be visible(with or without a telescope?) from Earth.

If there is water, it could open up possibilities for a Lunar base. Apparently a lot of people are against this and it costs something like $71 million(?) to do.

Anybody have any more info? I'm kind of pressed for time, I just wanted to get this out there before I have to leave.

[Rico]

Lots more here on this project;

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/index.html

[Bromptonboy]

Ben Bova wrote a great story about this type of idea - finding water ice on the moon.  I think it was called 'Moon Rising'.  

This will be great news for a more sustainable presence on the moon one day.  Helium3 mines must be in the works as well!

[Bryancd]

So I was up at 4:30am, my telescope trained on the Moon's southern pole AND.....nothing. I watched for a while longer, but didn't see anything, not a flash when the booster impacted (it's wasn't an explosive, just a heavy spent booster). They had estimated the impact would be the equivalent on 1.5 ton of TNT and would create a dust plume 6 miles high. I have a big, 8" Dobsonian scope, so I was right there and still saw nothing. Apparently, NASA hasn't seen anything yet either, their cameras failed at the very end. Other backyard astronomers also report not seeing anything. Bummer! :(

[Rico]

Was the craft in orbit taking pictures too Bryan?  Maybe it simply hit at the wrong angle and that kept the dust cloud down.

[Bromptonboy]

"The initial explosions will probably be hidden behind crater walls, but the plumes will rise high enough above the crater's rim to be seen from Earth,"   - from a NASA rep.
We were overcast here, so I couldn't get in on a watch party.

[Bryancd]

There were two parts to the msission. The booster followed closely by an instrument package which would take pics and serach the plume for water. 4min after the initial impact, that instrument also crashed intot he crater.

I didn't expect to see a flash, but I didn't see any plume either. No one seems to have.

Now NASA is saying that the lighting was bad, that the plume would have been dark grey and was partly in shadow, so observing ti was hard. However, all the instruments were working, so they will get all the data, just not the cool pics.

[Meds]

Does anyone else find this funny that bugger all happened. I mean they spend all that money (which could gave been spent on U.S health care) for what? Camera failure and Bryan with his eight inchies out again. I ask you. ;) lol

[Bryancd]

Does anyone else find this funny that bugger all happened. I mean they spend all that money (which could gave been spent on U.S health care) for what? Camera failure and Bryan with his eight inchies out again. I ask you. ;) lol

LOL! Not to mention is was chilly out, so you know how that go's.... ;)

Well, they did get their data and it will be interesting to hear if there is frozen water in meaningful quantities under the surface of the Moon's poles. If so, it could harbor a new era in manned space flight using the Moon as a launching point.

[Rico]

It's finally coming!  ;)

[Feathers]

It's finally coming!  ;)

Ah, nice! I still wonder what losing the moon would do to oceans and tides down here though.

On topic, I also what the international community has to say about one country effectively blowing up bits of the moon.

[Bryancd]

On topic, I also what the international community has to say about one country effectively blowing up bits of the moon.

Oh, it's all shared research and they aren't really blowing up the moon. :)

[Bromptonboy]

Let that be a warning to Mars and Venus!

[Bryancd]

Let that be a warning to Mars and Venus!

Yeah, they better not get all upidy!

[alanp]

How could we learn anything different by shooting the moon with a rocket than we learn every time a meteorite crashes into the moon?