PARMAN'S PAGE: Space News | Sports & Movie Info

Thursday, June 11, 2009

An artist's concept of the Kaguya spacecraft in lunar orbit.

JAXA

FAREWELL, KAGUYA... At 4:25 PM, Pacific Time yesterday, the Japanese spacecraft Kaguya slammed onto the Moon’s surface after almost two years of successfully mapping the lunar landscape. In an impact that was intentionally planned by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), vaporizing in a blaze of glory was not only the bus-size Moon probe but around 413,000 names and messages—including that of Yours Truly—that were attached to it.

Four images taken by a ground-based telescope showing the Kaguya spacecraft crashing onto the Moon.

Four images taken by a ground-based telescope showing the Kaguya spacecraft crashing onto the Moon.

Jeremy Bailey (University of New South Wales) & Steve Lee (Anglo-Australian Observatory)

While one ambitious Moon mission has come to an end, another will soon take its place in lunar orbit. Assuming things go well next Wednesday, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and its LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) impactor—which is specifically designed to crash into the Moon to reveal any water ice that may be lurking underneath the surface—will launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Here’s hoping this flight will be as successful as the one that concluded yesterday afternoon.

The Atlas V rocket that will launch the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter towards the Moon on June 17.