LCROSS Impact coverage E-

Bummer. Reminded me of the Huygens lander coverage from ESA. I
couldn't get NASA channel coverage so I recorded ABC and CNN. Amidst
news banners proclaming "Nasa shoots missle at moon" and "Nasa bombs
the moon" The waiting was a killer and at near the moment of impact
somebody (NASA moron) switches to a "Infrared" image upon which I lost
all reference (and there was no narrative from studio (as if they
would know) or NASA) and the moment passed. I can except the lack of
visual fireworks but giving no backup visual reference or narrative of
what the video feed was showing AND switching to a totally lost
infrared display at or near impact was beyond comprehension. (Diane
Sawyer, NOT a rocket scientist, on the recording says it all when she
says "Hmmmmmmmmmmm)) NASA needs better and more in tune PR people.
**** poor on my side.............Doc

Dr.Colon Oscopy wrote: I
couldn't get NASA channel coverage so I recorded ABC and CNN.

The little brunette ditz on CNN and her telescope-penis joke were a good
reminder why I am watching less-and-less TV these days.
Anyway, the preliminary results are baffling, with no ejecta plume
observed by anyone and the spectrum of the impact flash showing sodium
for some reason.

Pat

Dr.Colon Oscopy wrote: tWhat baffles me now
about LCROSS is that a week or two ago they published a better look
see at the A11 landing site anda that time said future shots would be
"2 or 3 times better" Since then I've seen nothing and I've been
watching the releases pretty closely. Are we done with the landing
site releases? Did anybody else expect higher quality releases of
the landing sites. Just wondering.........Doc

Could it simply be due to orbital dynamics in regards to where LRO
passes over on the Moon? At its orbital altitude it's going to have to
pass almost directly over the landing sites to image them.
Also, I don't think LRO is yet in its final low circular orbit, so
altitude as it passes over various objects on the Moon's surface will
vary, resulting in higher or lower image resolution.
I just went over to their website, and they've got a nice image of the
Apollo-12/Surveyor-3 up:
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/3...label_full.jpg
....on that one you can see the path the astronauts walked around the
landing site.

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote:
Anyway, the preliminary results are baffling, with no ejecta plume
observed by anyone

Centaur fell down went crumple on solid rock?

rick jones
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The real question is "Can it be patched?"
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Rick Jones wrote:

Pat Flannery wrote:
Anyway, the preliminary results are baffling, with no ejecta plume
observed by anyone

Centaur fell down went crumple on solid rock?

Unless we are *very* wrong about lunar and solar system evolution,
there shouldn't be any such thing. On top of explaining how we missed
what would have had to have been enormous and quite visible areas of
bare rock visible elsewhere on the moon.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

http://derekl1963.livejournal.com/

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

Derek Lyons wrote:
Rick Jones wrote:

Pat Flannery wrote:
Anyway, the preliminary results are baffling, with no ejecta plume
observed by anyone

Centaur fell down went crumple on solid rock?

Unless we are *very* wrong about lunar and solar system evolution,
there shouldn't be any such thing. On top of explaining how we
missed what would have had to have been enormous and quite visible
areas of bare rock visible elsewhere on the moon.

Well, it is *far* more likely that I'm very wrong but does it have
to have been an "enormous" area of bare rock? BTW, I'd also include
reasonably large boulders or outcroppings where "reasonable" would be
"more or less larger than a centaur. Apart from the engine, at the
time of impact the Centaur is basically "just" a giant beer can right?
Was there orientation control of the Centaur prior to impact? I'm
wondering if it hit "head on" against a large boulder if it would just
crumple up and the nice hard engine bell not have a chance to hit
anything other than crumpled fuel tank.

How "hard" is Lunar Basalt?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basalt#...Martian_basalt

rick jones
--
I don't interest myself in "why". I think more often in terms of
"when", sometimes "where"; always "how much." - Joubert
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
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Rick Jones wrote in news:hao8mi$urt$5
@usenet01.boi.hp.com:

Well, it is *far* more likely that I'm very wrong but does it have
to have been an "enormous" area of bare rock? BTW, I'd also include
reasonably large boulders or outcroppings where "reasonable" would be
"more or less larger than a centaur. Apart from the engine, at the
time of impact the Centaur is basically "just" a giant beer can right?
Was there orientation control of the Centaur prior to impact? I'm
wondering if it hit "head on" against a large boulder if it would just
crumple up and the nice hard engine bell not have a chance to hit
anything other than crumpled fuel tank.

At several thousand MPH, a crumpled ball of paper would be the
equivalent of an armor-piercing round. A couple of tons of metal
is going to make a hell of a bang and throw regolith around.
It seemed to be coming in at a pretty shallow angle; possibly the
resulting fragments skipped?

Bit of a mystery there, for the moment.

--Damon

Damon Hill wrote:
Rick Jones wrote in news:hao8mi$urt$5
@usenet01.boi.hp.com:

Well, it is *far* more likely that I'm very wrong but does it
have to have been an "enormous" area of bare rock? BTW, I'd also
include reasonably large boulders or outcroppings where
"reasonable" would be "more or less larger than a centaur. Apart
from the engine, at the time of impact the Centaur is basically
"just" a giant beer can right? Was there orientation control of
the Centaur prior to impact? I'm wondering if it hit "head on"
against a large boulder if it would just crumple up and the nice
hard engine bell not have a chance to hit anything other than
crumpled fuel tank.

At several thousand MPH, a crumpled ball of paper would be the
equivalent of an armor-piercing round.

Fair enough.

A couple of tons of metal is going to make a hell of a bang and
throw regolith around. It seemed to be coming in at a pretty
shallow angle; possibly the resulting fragments skipped?

Crashed through the top of a lava tube/dome?

rick jones
--
Process shall set you free from the need for rational thought.
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

On Fri, 9 Oct 2009 20:10:27 +0000 (UTC), Rick Jones
wrote:

Pat Flannery wrote:
Anyway, the preliminary results are baffling, with no ejecta plume
observed by anyone

Centaur fell down went crumple on solid rock?

rick jones



Despite no visible plume, NASA seems satisfied with the outcome:


http://tiny.cc/MTIMr

NASA's Lunar LCROSS Mission A Success, Scientists Now Analyzing Data
October 9, 2009 3:38 p.m. EST


--- Advertisment ---
Ayinde O. Chase - AHN Editor
Moffett Field, CA (AHN) - NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing
Satellite, or LCROSS, successfully reached its target, the moon. Early
Friday morning LCROSS slammed into the surface creating twin impacts
aiding in a search for water ice.

Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator for the LCROSS mission
revealed during a press conference that any number of things could
have gone wrong resulting in no data. For instance, the spacecraft
could've not hit in the right place; instruments could've not worked.
Admittedly scientists across the globe knew the challenges that
existed, however everything worked.

Scientists on Earth now are tasked with analyzing the data from the
spacecraft's instruments to ascertain whether water is present.

"This is a great day for science and exploration," said Doug Cooke,
associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission
Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The LCROSS data
should prove to be an impressive addition to the tremendous leaps in
knowledge about the moon that have been achieved in recent weeks. I
want to congratulate the LCROSS team for their tremendous achievement
in development of this low cost spacecraft and for their perseverance
through a number of difficult technical and operational challenges."?

Views and technical observation detailed that the highly tauted
visible plume of debris that NASA had predicted to rise miles above
the lunar surface was not visible on images sent from the LCROSS probe
or ground-based telescopes.

However, scientists were unable to hide their exuberance at the
priceless continuous flow of information and valuable data, including
intriguing "blips" in spectroscopic analysis of the vapors produced by
impact.

According to NASA the satellite which was part of a controversial
mission traveled 5.6 million miles during a historic 113-day mission.
Researchers say that its final destination was the Cabeus crater, a
permanently shadowed region near the moon's south pole.

"The LCROSS science instruments worked exceedingly well and returned a
wealth of data that will greatly improve our understanding of our
closest celestial neighbor," said Colaprete, LCROSS principal
investigator and project scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in
Moffett Field, Calif. "The team is excited to dive into data."

In preparation for impact, LCROSS and its spent Centaur upper stage
rocket separated about 54,000 miles above the surface of the moon on
Thursday at approximately 6:50 p.m. PDT.

Traveling at a speed of more than 1.5 miles per second, the Centaur
hit the lunar surface shortly after 4:31 a.m. Oct. 9, creating an
impact that instruments aboard LCROSS observed for approximately four
minutes. LCROSS then impacted the surface at approximately 4:36 a.m.

The LCROSS team expects it to take several weeks of analysis before it
can make a definitive assessment of the presence or absence of water.



Read mo
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7016647839?NASA's%20Lunar%20LCROSS%20Mission%20A%2 0Sucess,%20Scientists%20Now%20Analyzing%20Data#ixz z0TU5sqJ5R

rwalker wrote:
Despite no visible plume, NASA seems satisfied with the outcome:


http://tiny.cc/MTIMr

NASA's Lunar LCROSS Mission A Success, Scientists Now Analyzing Data
October 9, 2009 3:38 p.m. EST

...

Views and technical observation detailed that the highly tauted

I'm sure that things were very tense but were they actually taut?-)
Although, I'm probably not one to be touting grammar issues...

rick jones
--
web2.0 n, the dot.com reunion tour...
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...