by bintangkecil on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 | News, Tech/Gadget, World

NASA is launching a dramatic mission to bomb the moon on October 9.

See a preview of the blast, then watch it LIVE from earth or on the web.

The LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite) mission will send a missile traveling at twice the speed of a bullet to blast a hole in the lunar surface near the moon’s South pole.

Scientists expect the impact of the Centaur rocket to be powerful enough to eject a huge plume of debris from the moon. The moon dust should even be large enough to be seen from earth through telescopes 10-to-12 inches and larger, says NASA.

So what’s our beef with the moon?

The bombing isn’t an act of hostility: it’s all part of our search for water in space.

The missile will impact the lunar surface at crater Cabeus A (see photo below). The crater is located on the moon’s South pole, an area in which scientists estimate there may be billions of tons of trapped ice.

The actual impact will occur early in the morning on October 9, and there are two ways to catch the rocket’s blast:

First, you can watch a live TV broadcast of the LCROSS mission on NASA TV, which is scheduled to start streaming at 6:15 am EDT/3:15 am PDT on October 9.

The first hour will include commentary and status reports. The actual impact should start at 7:30 am EDT/4:30 am PDT (11:30 UT), according to NASA:

The Centaur rocket will strike first, transforming 2200 kg of mass and 10 billion joules of kinetic energy into a blinding flash of heat and light. Researchers expect the impact to throw up a plume of debris as high as 10 km.

Close behind, the LCROSS mothership will photograph the collision for NASA TV and then fly right through the debris plume. Onboard spectrometers will analyze the sunlit plume for signs of water (H2O), water fragments (OH), salts, clays, hydrated minerals and assorted organic molecules.

NASA expects the blast to be so large that it can be seen from earth through telescopes 10-to-12 inches long (or larger). Any place west of the Mississippi River is a potential observing site, with Hawaii and Pacific coast states the best places to watch the impact.

Source: Huffington Post

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