Post date: Aug 25, 2011 6:10:53 PM
NASA scientists say GRAIL, a twin spacecraft lunar probe mission scheduled for next month, will help further understanding of how the moon evolved and what goes on beyond its cratered surface.
MOON, NASA - NASA scientists Friday (August 25) say next month's lunar mission will help unlock the mystery of what goes on beyond the surface of the moon.
The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, known as GRAIL, is tasked with a nine-month mission to explore the lunar interior from crust to core and to advance scientists' understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon.
GRAIL's twin spacecraft, set to launch on September 8, will fly a circuitous route taking 3.5 months.In orbit, the spacecraft will transmit radio signals defining the distance between the two craft. The gravitational differences on the moon should expand and contract the distance.
GRAIL scientists can use these measurements to define the moon's gravity field.
"This will be the highest resolution gravity field for any planet including earth. On earth you can't get down low enough to make the kind of measurements that we're making because of the atmospheric drag," said Maria Zuber, GRAIL's Principal Investigator of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"So the ability to do precise targeting of observations by humans or by future robotics explorers is going to be really unprecedented after this gravitational field is produced," Zuber added.
Zuber said the mission will help scientists to understand how the moon, Earth and other rocky planets evolved as well.