Earlier this year, NASA crashed a spacecraft into the moon. Now, thanks to images from the agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), we now know exactly where that spacecraft landed.
The six-month mission of NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) ended in April 2014 with a planned impact on the moon's surface on its far side. However, until now, the agency had no indications of the crash site.
"The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) team recently developed a new computer tool to search Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) before and after image pairs for new craters, the LADEE impact event provided a fun test, says Mark Robinson, LROC principal investigator. "As it turns there were several small surface changes found in the predicted area of the impact, the biggest and most distinctive was within 968 feet (295 meters) of the spot estimated by the LADEE operations team. What fun!"
As LADEE's mission of studying the moon's atmosphere came to an end, it maneuvered itself for a planned impact on the far side of the moon. In about a week, the spacecraft slowed its orbit and got closer and closer to the moon's surface. It eventually crashed into a part of the moon called the Sundman V crater on April 18.
LADEE's impact site, however, is only about ten feet wide. This made seeing it with standard instruments difficult. There are also so many other craters on the moon that identifying its landing spot was nearly impossible.
NASA scientists painstakingly went over photos from the LRO's camera before the crash and after the crash and eventually narrowed down those craters unrelated to LADEE's impact. Finally, they had an image that showed where the spacecraft hit the moon's surface. Even better, the image showed that the impact site was only two-tenths of a mile away from where scientists predicted it would end up.
"I'm happy that the LROC team was able to confirm the LADEE impact point," says Butler Hine, LADEE project manage. "It really helps the LADEE team to get closure and know exactly where the product of their hard work wound up."
The LRO launched in 2009 and recently received a two-year extension on its mission, which includes studying the effects of meteorite impacts on the moon, learning more about the lunar environment, and understanding more about the moon's interior by studying its surface. The LROC has also given us some stunning photos of the moon, unveiling details we haven't seen before.
Photo Credit: NASA
