Nasa Moon Bombing Video

WASHINGTON -- NASA has successfully bulldozed two spacecraft into the moon's south pole in a search for hidden ice, but without the promised live photos.

First a 2.2-ton empty rocket hull smacked the moon's south pole at 7:31 a.m. EDT Friday. Then four minutes later the camera-and-instrument laden space probe made its death plunge.

The smaller probe had five cameras and four other scientific instruments and NASA had touted live photos on its web site. But those images didn't occur. NASA officials say they are sure the two probes crashed and looking to see what happened to the pictures. Pictures were live until seconds before impact.

The intentional crashes had been expected to kick up miles of lunar dust. The space probe is called LCROSS, short for Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

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Nasa Moon Bombing Video

lcross impact

NASA's Lunar Prospector first detected some hydrogen signatures in craters on the dark side of the moon in 1999. Ever since, researchers have been keen to confirm the presence of water on the moon. The Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) is tasked with crashing through the mists of speculation and conjecture and discover the truth. And you can watch all the action as it happens.

LCROSS was launched on June 18th and executed a fly-by of the moon five days later before entering into a wide orbit. On Friday October 9th, the craft will start to make its final approach, not to land but to crash land. The upper stage rocket in front, the Centaur, will separate from LCROSS which will, in turn, slow down a little. Creating a four minute gap between each vessel, the Centaur will crash into the Cabeus crater at the Moon's south pole. The heavy impact will create a great plume of debris.

Following behind, the LCROSS will pass through the debris, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before itself impacting the crater. As well as a visible camera and radiometer, the LCROSS payload also includes two near-infrared spectrometers, a visible light spectrometer, two mid-infrared cameras and two near-infrared cameras.

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lcross impact

NASA Moon Bombing

NASA is bombing the Moon Friday, and you can watch the unprecedented event via live stream online.

The LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite) mission launched in June with its main goal to look for frozen water reserves on the moon by literally blowing up an area at the Moon’s south pole.

A source of water on Moon could provide hydrogen for fuel, and assist in the establishment of a permanent moon base.

If bombing the moon once wasn’t enough, NASA will actually do it twice. The mission has two stages: the shepherding spacecraft and Centaur heavy impactor will separate, with the Centaur creating a debris plume that will rise above the lunar surface. The shepherding spacecraft will fly through the debris plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before impacting the lunar surface and creating a second debris plume.

The first impact takes place on Oct 9, 2009 at 4:30 a.m. US PDT (7:30 a.m. US EDT, 10:30pm AEDT) with the second 4 minutes later.READ MORE

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NASA Moon Bombing