Post by glactus on Sept 8, 2011 1:06:29 GMT
The Moon and Grail
The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) is an American lunar science mission in NASA's Discovery Program, which will use high-quality gravitational field mapping of the Moon to determine its interior structure. The two small spacecraft which compose GRAIL are scheduled for launch on 8 September 2011 aboard a Delta II launch vehicle in its most-powerful configuration, 7920H-10.
Grail at the Moon
The science phase of the mission will last for 90 days. Following the science phase (or extended mission phase), a five-day decommissioning period is planned, after which the spacecraft will impact the lunar surface in about 40 days. The gravity mapping technique is similar to that used by Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), and the spacecraft design is based on XSS-11.
The Astronomy Club looking at Grail
Unlike the Apollo program's missions, which took three days to reach the Moon, GRAIL will make use of a three- to four-month low-energy trans-lunar cruise via the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L1 to reduce fuel requirements, protect instruments and reduce the velocity of the two spacecraft at lunar arrival to help achieve the extremely low 50 kilometers (31 mi) orbits with separation between the spacecraft arriving 24 hours apart.
To see Video just click on the link below. Has sound.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvrNRbk-6rc
Credits: These are non copywrite images.
Text by wikipedia
Spacec art by Glactus.