Nasa's Moon-bombing ends in anticlimax

Source: WIRED.CO.UK

By Holden Frith |09 October 2009 |

Anyone expecting Hollywood-style explosions and plumes of smoke and debris would have been disappointed by the footage from the Moon this lunchtime.

Nasa's Moon-bombing mission, designed to confirm the presence of frozen water in lunar craters, ended with whimper rather than a bang. "We confirm a thermal signature of the crater," a Nasa voice was heard to say, but the footage was unrevealing to the untrained eye.

"Maybe there's rather less material to kick up than they had expected," Dr Robert Massey, from the UK's Royal Astronomical Society, told the BBC...


"We don't anticipate anything about presence or absence of water immediately," a Nasa spokesman said. "It's going to take us some time."...



Read more: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-10/09/nasa's-moon-bombing-ends-in-anticlimax-.aspx

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Friday October 9 2009 byMauro Galluzzo for express.co.uk

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/133105/Nasa-bomb-the-moon

...But scientists were left disappointed when the 'bombing' showed no sign of an impact - even though both craft dived into a darkened crater as planned.

Dr Vincent Eke, from the University of Durham, said: “If it turns out to be as dull as it looked, I’d imagine the soil just didn’t respond as was hoped to being hit.

“It might mean we don’t get sufficient data, which would be a shame.”...


But the dramatic explosion that was predicted failed to materialise. The only evidence of an impact was a small “thermal signature” picked up by the LCROSS probe’s infra-red camera...






Nasa Moon bombing: LCROSS mission crashes into Moon

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/americas/nasa-moon-bombing-lcross-mission-crashes-into-moon-1909841.html
Friday October 09 2009

The Nasa LCROSS mission to discover how much water is on the Moon has crashed into the surface of the satellite but left millions who watched the expected spectacle live disappointed.

A plume of dust and rock that was predicted to reach up to six miles high was forecast, but in the end those watching the crash on televisions or on the internet saw little evidence of the impact...

And it's difficult to throw slush anywhere.

--d!

he attacked the moon!

dropping an egg in a pile of feathers. :shrug:

The only determinant of whether the project failed or not is if they were able to successfully test for water.

That's it.

No fireworks necessary.

not being able to hear the "PEW PEW PEW" of lasers.

The crash was a success - it hit in the right spot, equipment was trained on it, and now the data will be analyzed. But the woos and their ever-so-supportive media will proclaim it a failure because there wasn't a giant, moon-shattering KABOOM.

and the visible effect does seem to have been far less than that.

no one can hear a teabagger whine.

:rofl:

This was done on a Hollywood set.

This is a pretty good one. More subtle than most, then again, not subtle at all. Well done :D

:scared:

:evilgrin:

:sarcasm:

http://www.space.com/news/spacehistory/nuke_moon_000514.html


I bet they are going to try again!

Besides, we'd definately be able to see that one!

waste of money big time, really sad!!

This was part of a much larger mission, basically piggybacked onto it because they had some weight to spare. Sort of like stopping off at the cleaners at the end of a much larger shopping trip -- even if your clothes aren't ready it's not a wasted trip because it was on your way and you were already out. :)

LOL

I'm sure all the chicken littles will now apologize.

Look, I'm holding my breath.

:rofl:

of the beginning of the Moon War?

not like you're throwing a banana down a coalmine.

The only reason for doing it was to kick up some dust and look for evidence of hydroxls (the "OH" part of water).

I'm not concerned that it didn't make a big show in visible light. Just as long as those special instruments were able see something.

was doing any of this. The smallness of the impact does not surprise me; Jupiter's big response to that broken comet did surprise me, what with being a gasball & all, HOW could there be such an impact-was it all just a chemical reaction?