Time for Carnival of Space again. Head over to Kentucky Space for more astronomy and space stories.
LRO Sent Back its First Lunar Image
•July 5, 2009 • Leave a CommentThe Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has sent back its first lunar image. Take a look…
These images show cratered regions near the moon’s Mare Nubium region, as photographed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s LROC instrument. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.
Wow! Just look at the details… it’s just as if you are on a plane flying over the lunar landscape! Each image above shows a region only 1400 m wide (meaning you can – if you can – walk from one side of the image to the other in less than half an hour)! And details as small as 3 m wide can be resolved. Beautiful!
When looking at these images, something flashed through my mind… once upon a time, we believed that the Moon is a perfectly smooth sphere (because everything in the heaven must be perfect). Then exactly 400 years ago, when Galileo first pointed his telescope to the Moon, we realised that the Moon is not as smooth as it was thought to be. It is rough, a landscape full of craters, mountains and valleys.
Then 40 years ago, mankind first step foot on the Moon, return kilograms upon kilograms of lunar rock for analysis. Since then, lots of spacecrafts have been sent there, each with a specific mission to either map the Moon, to analyse its chemical composition, to understand its geology and geophysics or to answer the question of its origin.
And today, we are back to the Moon again, with a spacecraft identifying safe landing sites for future explorers, paving the way for the return of mankind to the Moon again.
It’s our curiosity, our determination and our advancement of knowledge in science and technology that’s making all these possible. I’m just wondering, will the colonisation of the Moon happen within my lifetime? Will I be part of mankind’s history to witness this great achievement? We shall wait and see…
Source: LRO site
Penang Astronomy Convention 2009
•July 2, 2009 • Leave a CommentJabatan Mufti Negeri Pulau Pinang and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is organising the Penang Astronomy Convention 2009 this weekend starting tomorrow.
Date: 3 – 5 July 2009
Venue: Main Examination Hall and Padang Kawad, USM. (map to USM, map inside USM).
Click here for the tentative programme. I’ll be there, so hope to see you all there too!
Carnival of Space #109
•July 1, 2009 • Leave a CommentAnother week gone, so it’s time for Carnival of Space! This week the carnival is hosted by Twisted Physics. Go there and take a look.
LRO Reached the Moon
•June 28, 2009 • Leave a CommentOne week ago, I wrote about the launch of two NASA probes to the Moon – Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS).
I thought it will some while before we hear about them again because I forgot that our Moon is very near, and it will only took a very short time to reach it…
Compared to New Horizon Mission to Pluto that took more than 9 years journey; or Cassini Mission to Saturn that took 7 years; or the Phoenix Mars Lander to our neighbour planet that took about 10 months, 4.5 days journey to the Moon by LRO is just like a walk across the street.
LRO is now in its commissioning phase orbit, where each of its seven instruments is checked out and brought online. This commissioning phase will end approximately 60 days after launch, when LRO will use its engines to transition to its primary mission orbit, which is 50 km above the Moon.
The other lunar probe – LCROSS – also has successfully completed its early milestone. By using the Moon’s gravity, it had entered into Earth’s polar orbit which now puts it on a course to impact the lunar south pole this October.
Source:
NASA Press Release – LRO
NASA Press Release – LCROSS
Carnival of Space #108
•June 24, 2009 • Leave a CommentSummer Solstice was here and gone… and I didn’t realise it until I saw this:
The Carnival of Space #108, Solstice Edition! is up and live at Starts with A Bang!
Wow! How time flies…
LRO/LCROSS Launched to the Moon
•June 20, 2009 • 3 CommentsFew months back, there are 3 spacecrafts orbiting our Moon. Then on March 1, the Chinese probe Chang’e 1 crashed onto the Moon under controlled conditions. Then just last week, on June 10, the Japanese probe Kaguya finished its mission by smashing itself, again, onto the Moon’s surface.
So now, the only spacecraft left is the Indian Chandrayaan-1 probe. But not for long… Chandrayaan-1 will soon join by two NASA probes – the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), launched atop an Atlas V rocket last Thursday.
The basic objectives of these two missions are to provide detailed lunar maps for returning humans to the Moon and searching for water ice in permanently shaded craters at the poles.
LRO and LCROSS will use vastly different methods to study the lunar environment. LRO will go into orbit around the Moon, turning its suite of instruments towards the moon for thorough studies. The spacecraft will also be looking for potential landing sites for astronauts.
LCROSS, on the other hand, will guide an empty upper stage on a collision course with a permanently shaded crater in an effort to kick up evidence of water at the Moon’s poles. LCROSS itself will also impact the lunar surface during its course of study.
And you know what… my name is now on the way to the Moon aboard LRO… cool eh? You can also have that, but not to the Moon (it’s too late now), but to Mars (it’s “cool”er, isn’t it? since it goes to a planet instead of a moon). Just click here to sign up.
My Dark Sky 
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