Updated on
Summary A pair of spacecraft will enter moon orbit to measure its uneven gravity field.
The moon has come a long way since Galileo first peered at it through a telescope. Unmanned probes have circled around it and landed on its surface. Twelve American astronauts have walked on it. And lunar rocks and soil have been hauled back from it.Despite being well studied, Earths closest neighbour remains an enigma.Over the New Years weekend, a pair of spacecraft the size of washing machines are set to enter orbit around it in the latest lunar mission. Their job is to measure the uneven gravity field and determine what lies beneath straight down to the core.Since rocketing from the Florida coast in September, the near-identical Grail spacecraft have been independently traveling to their destination and will arrive 24 hours apart. Their paths are right on target that engineers recently decided not to tweak their positions.Both spacecraft have performed essentially flawlessly since launch, but one can never take anything for granted in this business, said mission chief scientist Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.The nail-biting part is yet to come. On New Years Eve, one of the Grail probes short for Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory will fire its engine to slow down so that it could be captured into orbit. This move will be repeated by the other the following day.Engineers said the chances of the probes overshooting are slim since their trajectories have been precise. Getting struck by a cosmic ray may prevent the completion of the engine burn and they wont get boosted into the right orbit.I know Im going to be nervous. Im definitely a worrywart, said project manager David Lehman of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $496 million, three-month mission.Once in orbit, the spacecraft will spend the next two months flying in formation and chasing one another around the moon until they are about 35 miles (56 kilometres) above the surface with an average separation of 124 miles (200 kilometres). Data collection wont begin until March.Previous missions have attempted to measure lunar gravity with mixed success. Grail is the first mission dedicated to this goal.As the probes circle the moon, regional changes in the lunar gravity field will cause them to speed up or slow down. This in turn will change the distance between them. Radio signals transmitted by the spacecraft will measure the slight distance gaps, allowing researchers to map the underlying gravity field.Using the gravity information, scientists can deduce whats below or at the lunar surface such as mountains and craters and may help explain why the far side of the moon is more rugged than the side that faces Earth.The probes are officially known as Grail-A and Grail-B. Several months ago, NASA hosted a contest inviting schools and students to submit new names. The probes will be christened with the winning names after the second orbit insertion, Zuber said.Besides the one instrument on board, each spacecraft also carries a camera for educational purposes. Run by a company founded by Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, middle school students from participating schools can choose their own lunar targets to image during the mission.
