Sunshyne Jones
TRIBE Member
I didn't read up on this, just saw the reactionary commentary online / Twitter etc. re the idea that NASA was going to bomb the moon ... i.e. crash man-made meteorites, basically, into the moon's surface allegedly seeking water. Kinda spooked me, the idea of crashing stuff into the moon -- i mean, what if something completely unexpected happened? (What might have happened? I dunno ... some kind of bruce willis movie scenario i spose?) I have to say that while reading the following article, I was pretty happy about the idea that the 'bombing' made for boring TV. What did they want? Massive explosions with disastrous consequences? Now that would have been exciting TV!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/6281566/Nasa-Moon-bombing-analysis.html
There may have been much backslapping and jubilation at Nasa mission control but millions of people watching it live on the internet must have felt slightly short changed.
The much anticipated 'bombing' of the Moon to find water did not even muster a whimper far less a bang. Great television it was not.
Apart from the Moon and its craters getting slowly bigger, and the occasional radio exchange between control room staff, nothing happened.
Where was the much anticipated explosion? Where was the splash of ice and water? Where was the 6.2 mile high spray of lunar dust?
If we hadn't been told the two spacecraft had crashed landed, we would never have known.
Even the commentators seemed perplexed - and not a little embarrassed.
Of course, this doesn't mean that the mission is a failure. It could still find water, in fact the lack of fireworks could be a good sign.
The spacecraft may have landed in a lake, or an ice sheeet or been engulfed in gloopy mud - all of which would be incredibly interesting.
Whatever the reason for the lack of fireworks, Nasa should still have learnt a great deal from the LCROSS mission.
Unfortunatelty we will just have to take their word for it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/6281566/Nasa-Moon-bombing-analysis.html
There may have been much backslapping and jubilation at Nasa mission control but millions of people watching it live on the internet must have felt slightly short changed.
The much anticipated 'bombing' of the Moon to find water did not even muster a whimper far less a bang. Great television it was not.
Apart from the Moon and its craters getting slowly bigger, and the occasional radio exchange between control room staff, nothing happened.
Where was the much anticipated explosion? Where was the splash of ice and water? Where was the 6.2 mile high spray of lunar dust?
If we hadn't been told the two spacecraft had crashed landed, we would never have known.
Even the commentators seemed perplexed - and not a little embarrassed.
Of course, this doesn't mean that the mission is a failure. It could still find water, in fact the lack of fireworks could be a good sign.
The spacecraft may have landed in a lake, or an ice sheeet or been engulfed in gloopy mud - all of which would be incredibly interesting.
Whatever the reason for the lack of fireworks, Nasa should still have learnt a great deal from the LCROSS mission.
Unfortunatelty we will just have to take their word for it.
