Science Column: Exploring the Moon
February 9, 2012
By Suzanne Smith
Lycourier Staff
Just over a month ago two new lunar satellites achieved lunar orbit. NASA’s twin lunar orbiters, Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) A and B, are now known as Ebb and Flow, thanks to the fourth graders at the Emily Dickinson Elementary School in Bozeman, Montana. Ebb and Flow are each about the size of a washing machine. The satellites were launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on September 10, 2011.
In a test run of one of the twin spacecraft, GRAIL returned its first unique view of the far side of the moon. MoonKAM, or Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students, will be used by students nationwide to select lunar images for study.
Both Ebb and Flow are fitted with the MoonKAM. It was with Ebb’s MoonKAM that the first images were captured. Testing of Flow’s MoonKAM will be conducted at a later date.
In the video, the north pole of the moon is visible as the spacecraft flies towards the lunar south pole. Maria Zuber, principle investigator on the GRAIL project, hopes the images from MoonKAM inspire students as they explore the moon.
The MoonKAM is an integral part of the a program in which thousands of fourth- to eighth-grade students will select target areas on the lunar surface and send requests to the GRAIL MoonKAM Mission Operations Center in San Diego, California. Photos of target areas will be sent back by the satellites for the students to study.
The MoonKAM program is led by Sally Ride, America’s first woman in space. Her team at Sally Ride Science and undergraduates at the University of California in San Diego will engage middle school students across the country in the GRAIL mission and lunar exploration.
GRAIL is NASA’s first planetary mission carrying instruments fully dedicated to education and public outreach.
“We have had great response from schools around the country; more than 2500 signed up to participate so far,” Ride said. “I expect this will excite many students about possible careers in science and engineering.”
Ebb and Flow periodically perform trajectory correction maneuvers that, over time, will lower their orbits to near-circular ones with an altitude of about 34 miles. During their science mission, the duo will answer longstanding questions about the moon and give scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the GRAIL mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, DC.
To view the 30-second video clip, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/zZXAPs.
Lycourier Staff
Just over a month ago two new lunar satellites achieved lunar orbit. NASA’s twin lunar orbiters, Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) A and B, are now known as Ebb and Flow, thanks to the fourth graders at the Emily Dickinson Elementary School in Bozeman, Montana. Ebb and Flow are each about the size of a washing machine. The satellites were launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on September 10, 2011.
In a test run of one of the twin spacecraft, GRAIL returned its first unique view of the far side of the moon. MoonKAM, or Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students, will be used by students nationwide to select lunar images for study.
Both Ebb and Flow are fitted with the MoonKAM. It was with Ebb’s MoonKAM that the first images were captured. Testing of Flow’s MoonKAM will be conducted at a later date.
In the video, the north pole of the moon is visible as the spacecraft flies towards the lunar south pole. Maria Zuber, principle investigator on the GRAIL project, hopes the images from MoonKAM inspire students as they explore the moon.
The MoonKAM is an integral part of the a program in which thousands of fourth- to eighth-grade students will select target areas on the lunar surface and send requests to the GRAIL MoonKAM Mission Operations Center in San Diego, California. Photos of target areas will be sent back by the satellites for the students to study.
The MoonKAM program is led by Sally Ride, America’s first woman in space. Her team at Sally Ride Science and undergraduates at the University of California in San Diego will engage middle school students across the country in the GRAIL mission and lunar exploration.
GRAIL is NASA’s first planetary mission carrying instruments fully dedicated to education and public outreach.
“We have had great response from schools around the country; more than 2500 signed up to participate so far,” Ride said. “I expect this will excite many students about possible careers in science and engineering.”
Ebb and Flow periodically perform trajectory correction maneuvers that, over time, will lower their orbits to near-circular ones with an altitude of about 34 miles. During their science mission, the duo will answer longstanding questions about the moon and give scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the GRAIL mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, DC.
To view the 30-second video clip, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/zZXAPs.
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