		Site Map \| Contact Us \| Search:

JOIN

The Planetary Society Blog

By Emily Lakdawalla

Nifty GRAIL animation

Aug. 25, 2011 | 03:21 PDT | 10:21 UTC

We need your help.
Please donate to support our blog, website, and podcast.

Weblog Archive

A pair of lunar spacecraft is launching in two weeks, and NASA had their preview press briefing this morning. Notable from that briefing was this spiffy video. There is something especially cool about a pair of identical spacecraft being launched at the same time, one following the other's actions in robotic precision. I think it's because it's easy to generalize this and imagine someday a fleet of tiny craft launched on the same rocket, perhaps to sound the winds of another planet or even to land on Venus, the Moon, Mars, or Mercury -- or, honestly, any other solid body in the solar system -- to establish a seismic network. This pair will provide the best measurement yet of the lunar gravity field, the best method available from orbit to understand the interior of a planet.

For everything you might want to know about the launch and mission, read the GRAIL Launch Press Kit (PDF, 2MB).

Click to enlarge >

GRAIL
Grail will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the Moon for several months to measure its gravity field in unprecedented detail, 100 times better than Kaguya. It is scheduled for launch in 2011. Credit: NASA / JPL

Post this page to:

Comments


Name

E-mail (Will not appear online)

Title

Comment


To prevent automated Bots form spamming, please enter the text you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.

This comment form is powered by GentleSource Comment Script. It can be included in PHP or HTML files and allows visitors to leave comments on the website.

Emily's on Twitter! »