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NASA TV
NASA TV stream of the final minutes before impact with the moon.

Updated 10.09 8.02 a.m.

This image of crater Cabeus was taken from the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite shortly after the Centaur rocket impacted the moon. "Hard to tell what we saw there... We're confident the instruments performed as expected," said science director Michael Bicay of NASA's Ames Research Center, on NASA TV..

Bad Astronomy blog: Ground-based reports are that no plume has been detected...

Science Now: "Nothing seen in telescopes RT @Space_Pete: The comm rm at Mauna Kea says "No impact flash, no ejecta curtain observed"! #LCROSS"

NYT:
At 4:31 a.m. Pacific time (7:31 a.m. Eastern time), one piece of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite -- LCROSS, for short -- slammed into the bottom of a crater at 5,600 miles per hour, excavating about 350 metric tons of the moon and leaving behind a hole about 65 feet wide, 13 feet deep.

Nature.com blog The Great Beyond (NASA punches Moon in the FACE): "This tone hasn't been helped by incidents such as the software lead for LCROSS tweeting, "Red Leader, this is Gold Leader. We're starting our attack run now."

10.07 5.49 a.m.

Detail of a NASA poster depicting an artist's view of Friday's kamikaze rocket to the moon's surface.

There's a blog called Do Not Bomb the Moon by Lara Gardner, a Portland writer (Why I'm Here). It's not fact-filled, it's just an expression of concern. In a vague and visceral way this seems wrong to me too, perhaps messing with forces we don't understand.

Bombing the moon recalls Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which begins with astronauts on the moon touching a mysterious monolith which then sends a signal out into space, presumably back to those who placed it there: Humans have made it to here.

Except this message will be far more violent.

Nevertheless, NASA plans to do it at 7:31:30 a.m. EDT Friday morning. The cost: $75 million. The objective, to detect water on the moon. A Centaur rocket will hurl at 5,592 mph into an impact site near the moon's south pole called Cabeus, kicking up a plume up to six miles high. A "shepherding spacecraft" will fly through the plume, gathering data -- and maybe getting wet.

NASA: "A live NASA TV Broadcast is planned for the LCROSS impacts starting at 6:15 a.m. EDT/3:15 a.m. PDT, Oct. 9, on NASA TV and at www.nasa.gov/ntv. " The bandwidth is seldom enough for these events, so if you're gung ho about this, the closest public broadcast listed so far at NASA is a special event at the Boston Museum of Science, Target: Moon!, beginning at 9 a.m.

On the East Coast, the sun will be rising during impact, and it will be really hard to see. Nevertheless, there's plenty of info for those who try at the NASA observation page, which tries "to provide the casual backyard observer useful information for observing the LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite) impact event without having to go to too many other sites."

Bad Astronomy blog at Discover Magazine is a site you might want to check into for impact lite, if astronomy isn't a hobby of yours. (Background: LCROSS impact site picked | Change of address for LCROSS.)

Of course, you and I and Lara Gardner have no choice about this. Neither does the man in the moon.

The Spoof, a satire site, turns the tables with fake news (Moon To Bomb Earth On Friday) that begins,

Washington DC-- The Moon will bomb the Earth on Friday. Targets include the Atlantic Ocean, California, and Illinois. The moon creatures are doing this purely for scientific research. They want to see if their (sic) is any moon dust on the Earth, among other things. Only one-quarter of the planet will be affected...

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

-- Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1, scene 5.

 Tags  moon NASA

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14 Comments

RideTheWalrus said:

Bombing the moon? Awwwwww yeahhhh!

This is the best idea I've ever heard!

Link | October 7, 2009 5:57 PM
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Mad Scientist said:

What has science done!!!

Link | October 7, 2009 6:37 PM
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DAT WALLET said:

So basically this represents our government taking money from us at gunpoint (taxes), then sending that money to the moon. Then blowing it up.

This will certainly help the economy recover.

Thanks Uncle Sam.

Link | October 7, 2009 6:41 PM
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Eevee said:

What happened to the American people voting on such matters? Sooooo, did we ask the rest of the world if they thought it was okay to "Bomb the Moon"? Are you kidding me? And the government wonders why we have little to no faith in their leadership!
I'm so ashamed of my government......

Link | October 7, 2009 9:16 PM
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Dan said:

The difference between men and boys is the size of their toys. Too bad our taxes have to pay for these toys.

Link | October 8, 2009 8:32 AM
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Dave said:

Just like when I was a kid. I told my buddy not to throw the Cherry Bomb in the neighbors yard, and sure enough, they came over to complain! Watch for it!

Link | October 8, 2009 10:15 AM
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Chrystal K. said:

Science is almost scary sometimes.

Link | October 8, 2009 6:59 PM
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Constant Gina said:

I saw the headline and said whhhattt?? then I saw the story and said oh....more money waisted...damn

Link | October 8, 2009 7:58 PM
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Mike Jackson said:

Cute; not one person here gets this. Does anyone these days care in the slightest about carrying through with what we started over 40 years ago? Or can no one see beyond the end of their own nose? Yes, the initial investment is high, but what do you think the European Crowns spent a few centuries ago to send a few folks to the Godforsaken, useless hole we ended up calling America? In case people haven't noticed, there's only so much living space and so many resources to go around down here and all the recycling and 'alternative energy' schemes in the world aren't going to make more; when it's gone, it's gone and we can look forward to relaxing back into the Stone Age. If we have half a brain and a little intestinal fortitude, we can move outward and start taking advantage of the order of magnitude more resources and energy sources available off-planet. The first step in that direction is a little recon; it doesn't make much sense to move into a place before you know whether it's livable or not.

Link | October 9, 2009 12:16 AM
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Claude said:

Mike, do you get the difference between "a little recon" and firing a rocket that will send debris six miles high?

This is exactly the sort of scientific rationalization people are complaining about.

Link | October 9, 2009 6:56 AM
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Amy said:

I really hope that there are no bad effects from bombing the moon. It just seems insane.

Link | October 9, 2009 3:14 PM
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GOD said:

This impact took place 3 weeks ago, before the recent spate of adverse world climatic changes..

Link | October 9, 2009 9:41 PM
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smartkid said:

this is not cool they use 75 million doller for doing what blowing uo the moon .75 million doller could help our bad ecomary stuff.

Link | October 12, 2009 10:18 AM
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Paule said:

Who would have ever associated the noble science of space exploration with lies, and the mass deception of all mankind?

Link | October 27, 2009 11:38 PM
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