Twin Nasa spacecraft to end mission with plunge into lunar mountain
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This artist rendering released by NASA shows the twin spacecraft Ebb and Flow orbiting the moon. The duo found evidence that the moon’s interior is more battered than previously thought and the crust is thinner than expected. -- PHOTO: AP
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Ebb and Flow chased each other around the moon for nearly a year, peering into the interior. With dwindling fuel supplies, the twin NASA spacecraft are ready for a dramatic finish.
On Monday, Dec 17, they will plunge - seconds apart - into a mountain near the moon's north pole. It's a carefully choreographed ending so that they don't end up crashing into the Apollo landing sites or any other place on the moon with special importance.
Skywatchers on Earth will not be able to view the double impacts since they will occur in the dark.
"We're not putting out an all-points bulletin to amateur astronomers to get their telescopes out," said mission chief scientist Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
