News tagged with lunar surface

How the Moon produces its own water

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Oct 15, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (15) | 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Moon is a big sponge that absorbs electrically charged particles given out by the Sun. These particles interact with the oxygen present in some dust grains on the lunar surface, producing ...

Diviner Observes LCROSS Impact

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Oct 12, 2009 | 4 / 5 (5) | 2

The LRO Diviner instrument obtained infrared observations of the LCROSS impact. LRO flew by the LCROSS Centaur impact site 90 seconds after impact at a distance of ~80 km. Diviner was commanded to observe ...

Microwaving Water from Moondust (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Oct 08, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (6) | 2

NASA is figuring out how to make water from moondust. Sounds like magic? "No magic--" says Ed Ethridge of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center "-- just microwaves. We're showing how microwaves can extract water ...

Southern Arizona Telescopes Will Point at Lunar Impact Early Friday

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Oct 07, 2009 | 5 / 5 (3) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers at the some of the best ground-based telescopes in southern Arizona plan to observe two lunar impacts at 4:30 a.m. and 4:34 a.m. Arizona time Friday.

China says completes 3D moon map

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Sep 29, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (3) | 1

China has completed a high-resolution, three-dimensional map of the entire surface of the moon, in an important step towards a future lunar landing, an expert involved in the project said Tuesday.

C1XS success will provide new understanding of lunar surface

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Sep 18, 2009 | 3 / 5 (2) | 0

Over its ten months of operation, the Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) gathered data for a total of 30 solar flares, giving the most accurate measurements to date of magnesium, aluminium, silicon, calcium ...

LCROSS Selects Crater with Best Chance of Finding Water

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Sep 08, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (4) | 0

NASA has identified the spot where it will search for water on the moon.

Apollo 12 and Surveyor 3

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Sep 03, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (8) | 2

Four months after the success of Apollo 11, NASA launched Apollo 12 in November 1969. Almost exactly 40 years later, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has seen the landing site.

Google offers 'guided tour' of the moon

Technology / Internet

Jul 20, 2009 | 3.7 / 5 (3) | 1

(AP) -- Google Inc. is offering a more wide-ranging view of the Moon, 40 years after humans first landed there.

Scientists save India's moon mission from failure

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jul 17, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (9) | 0

(AP) -- India's only satellite orbiting the moon came close to failure after overheating but scientists improvised to save it and have achieved more than 90 percent of the mission's objectives, an official ...

Museum battles to preserve moon suits for posterity

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jul 16, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (5) | 0

They have travelled further than any fashion item on Earth, surviving a hostile environment and extremes of heat and cold on a world far from ours. But now age is catching up with NASA spacesuits.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's first moon images available

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jul 02, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (7) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has transmitted its first images since reaching the moon on June 23. The spacecraft's two cameras, collectively known as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter ...

NASA launches LCROSS Lunar Impactor

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jun 19, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (7) | 3

NASA launched its first moon shot in a decade Thursday, sending up a pair of unmanned science probes that will help determine where astronauts could land and set up camp in years to come.

IBEX spacecraft detects fast neutral hydrogen coming from the moon

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jun 18, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (11) | 8

NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft has made the first observations of very fast hydrogen atoms coming from the moon, following decades of speculation and searching for their existence.

Japan's first lunar probe ends mission

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jun 11, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

(AP) -- Japan's first lunar probe made a controlled crash landing on the moon Thursday, successfully completing a 19-month mission to study the Earth's nearest neighbor, Japan's space agency said.