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GRAIL First Results Provide Most Precise Lunar Gravity Map Yet
This map shows the gravity field of the moon as measured by NASA’s GRAIL mission. Image credit: NASA/ARC/MIT
The first science results from NASA’s twin GRAIL lunar orbiters provide incredible detail of the Moon’s interior and the highest resolution gravity field map of any celestial body, including Earth.
The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) data shows ancient internal structures that were previously unknown, provides details that are up to five orders of magnitude better than previous studies of the Moon, and delivers unprecedented information about the Moon’s surface and gravity field.
The twin spacecraft, nicknamed Ebb and Flow, send radio signals to each other and any changes in distance between the two as they circle the Moon are measured, down to changes as small as 50 nanometers per second. “That’s 1/ 20,000th the velocity that a snail moves,” said Maria Zuber, GRAIL Principal Investigator, speaking at the American Geophysical Union conference today.
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Read the rest of GRAIL First Results Provide Most Precise Lunar Gravity Map Yet (832 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: GRAIL, Missions, Moon
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2012-12-05 17:45:17
Source: http://www.universetoday.com/98836/grail-first-results-provide-most-precise-lunar-gravity-map/
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