NASA MISSION UPDATE

NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, created twin impacts on the moon’s surface early Friday in a search for water ice. Scientists will analyze data from the spacecraft’s instruments to assess whether water ice is present.

The satellite traveled 5.6 million miles during an historic 113-day mission that ended in the Cabeus crater, a permanently shadowed region near the moon’s south pole. The spacecraft was launched June 18 as a companion mission to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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NASA’s LCROSS mission came to an end on Friday morning with a dual impact in Cabeus crater at the moon’s south pole. A Centaur upper stage impacted at approximately 7:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (4:30 a.m. PDT). A shepherding satellite brimming with instruments struck the surface four minutes later.  Initial video from the shepherding vehicle did not appear to show the impact debris field that was thrown up. However, NASA […]

An actual story overheard here this evening at NASA Ames: A concerned citizen called to inquire whether or not the LCROSS impact would destroy the Earth. The NASA official gave the person a 100 percent guarantee that this would not happen. The caller remained skeptical, however. The official finally informed the person that if this indeed somehow occurred, he would not be around in the morning to take this person’s […]

Kenji Williams performed “Bella Gaia” with the video projected on a massive screen on the NASA Ames parade grounds at 2:45 in the morning. It was pretty amazing – for those of us still awake! I took video – but it will take a while to upload. So, just pictures for now.

It’s 2:30 a.m. here at NASA Ames. All looks good for an impact on the moon in two hours time.

A crowd out on the parade grounds is watching the end of “October Sky,” the Homer Hickham biopic, which is being projected on a big screen. It’s the third and final film of the night, following “Fly Me to the Moon” and “The Dish.”

Kenji Williams is scheduled to do a musical performance at 2:45. I’m not sure if it’s going to be live or on video. I’ll see if I can post some video of it.

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‘Tis was the night before LCROSS, and all through the lawn…

…sat excited people who will be up til the dawn.

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President Obama held an astronomy event at the White House on Wednesday night.

WhiteKnightTwo on the taxiway at Oshkosh.

Animation of NASA’s LCROSS spacecraft from launch to its collision with the moon on Friday morning.

X PRIZE PRESS RELEASE

Masten Space Systems, led by David Masten, successfully flew its lunar lander rocket vehicle, XA-0.1B, also called “Xombie” twice in two hours. Masten is the second of four teams attempting to win a portion of a $2 million incentive prize purse as part of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge (NGLLC), funded by NASA, and created and presented by the X PRIZE Foundation.

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In 1995, the brand new X Prize Foundation moved to St. Louis from its base in Maryland based on a promise by Doug King, president of St. Louis Science Center, to help raise $2.5 million for the $10 million suborbital space prize. In addition to revenue, there was the added connection to Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis, who won a prize that inspired the space effort.

The partnership wouldn’t last. Like the St. Louis Cardinals football team before it, the foundation would decamp to a new location that promised sunnier skies and more income potential: Santa Monica. Next to Beverly. Hills, that is. Swimmin pools, movie stars. Huffington.

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Moon-Mars chief knocks ‘false claims’
Florida Today

The director of NASA’s embattled moon-Mars program says President Barack Obama’s human spaceflight commission is making false claims about the advantages of alternatives and ignoring “anything positive” about the program NASA already has spent $9 billion on over the past five years.

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