By JASON POWERS Scene Writer on Dec 18, 2012, at 2:30 PM Updated on 12/18 at 3:40 PM
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(NASA)
After spending a year mapping the gravitational surface of the Moon, NASA instructed their two
GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory) probes named Ebb and Flow, to smash into the side of a mountain near the Moon's north pole.
The two probes were placed in the same orbit around the Moon, and as they passed over mountains and craters and unseen masses under the surface, they would move slightly toward or away from each other. Measuring these changes enables scientists to make detailed gravity maps, and offer clues to what lies beneath the Lunar surface.
Running low on fuel and facing decaying orbits, the two probes were instructed to crash into the surface after completing their mission. The area where they crashed has been named in honor of the late astronaut Sally K. Ride, who was America's first woman in space.
The probes were part of NASA's
Discovery program, which has been sending probes out into space since 1992.
So far, GRAIL has determined that the Moon's crust is much thinner than previously thought, and the data collected may offer new insights on how the Moon was formed and how the solar system was created.
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