Nasa's damp squib...

[Peikko 1,575]

Well, we all woke up this morning, didn't we? That's a success...of sorts

Nasa's hopes of filming a spectacular crash on the moon were dashed today when satellite and telescope imagery failed to record the enormous plume of rock and dust that scientists had predicted.

The US space agency steered two parts of a spacecraft, called LCROSS, into the moon at more than 9,000 kilometres per hour, in the final act of a mission designed to look for signs of water.

Nasa scientists anticipated the impact would knock enough dust and rock out of the lunar surface to form a 10km-high cloud of debris that could be scanned for evidence of frozen water.

But when the collision occurred at 12.31pm today, no signs of the plume were spotted, even from the nearby second stage, which crashed into the moon four minutes later.

The disappointment came a day after staff at Nasa's headquarters in Washington DC faced a flood of calls from people who objected to the agency "bombing" the moon, some of whom feared the damage would disrupt tides on Earth and even their menstrual cycles.

At a Nasa press conference, Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator on the LCROSS mission, said of the missing plume: "We haven't been able to see it clearly in our data yet." He added that scientists were working "feverishly" on information sent back from LCROSS.

The spacecraft ploughed into an existing 100km-wide moon crater called Cabeus which is permanently in shade at the lunar south pole. Scientists believe the crater may contain frozen water that would be kicked up by the impact.

One theory is that the impact site was unexpectedly hard and that rock and soil gouged out by the impact failed to rise high enough to be lit up by sunlight.

"If it turns out to be as dull as it looked, I'd imagine the soil just didn't respond as was hoped to being hit," said Vincent Eke, an astronomer at the University of Durham who helped Nasa choose the impact site. "It might mean we don't get sufficient data, which would be a shame," he added.

Link

[Ban Hammer 13,342]

our tax dollars at work.

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Thanks for wasting billions more of our dollars as NASA does on a daily basis.

[Peikko 1,575]

You think science is a waste of time Joe?

[Niels Bohr 72]

OMFG!

Disrupts the tides, mentrual cycle? The moons has been attacked by meteors, and ateroids, and debris.

It'll disrupt the tide, but, that disturbance is like 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000001 magnitude.

[Peikko 1,575]

OMFG!

Disrupts the tides, mentrual cycle? The moons has been attacked by meteors, and ateroids, and debris.

It'll disrupt the tide, but, that disturbance is like 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000001 magnitude.

Yes, it's pretty sad that in this day and age there are millions of Americans who can't understand even basic physics.

[Joseph & Ana 0]

You think science is a waste of time Joe?

Science for the sake of science's sake is a waste of time and money. The purpose was to see if water crystals fly off when exploded. They totally missed the bus, had no fail-safe's in place, so its a total waste of money. We don't need bases on the moon which is the ultimate purpose. We aren't putting bases on the moon, and there is no reason to go to mars. Its ridiculous.

By the way, you should be outraged that we think we own the moon and are planning to take up shop wherever we choose without the world's consultation.

OMFG!

Disrupts the tides, mentrual cycle? The moons has been attacked by meteors, and ateroids, and debris.

It'll disrupt the tide, but, that disturbance is like 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000001 magnitude.

Yes, it's pretty sad that in this day and age there are millions of Americans who can't understand even basic physics.

Who said that?

[Peikko 1,575]

Try reading the article Joe.

Your opinion on what is and isn't useful science has been noted.

I also took note that I am meant to be outraged when you think I ought to be, but, I ignored it. Odd that, isn't it Joe?

[Niels Bohr 72]

False. Science is not a waste of time.

Those who are feeble minded has no idea of the scale and application that stems from the most smallest things we take for granted in our lives. For example, plants. Greger Mendel played with snapdragons (they're a type of flower plant). Everyone around him who knows him thinks he's just a moron for playing with snapdragons, and cross breeding them. Who would've known that this was the basis for genetics?

Heck, Kerpunicus, Galileo, Aristotle, Newton, Faraday, they were ousted by the laymen for speaking of their hobbies. Newton, he went home and played around with math. Couldn't solve a physics problem so he came up with Calculus. People back in those days were thinking, heck, he's just a number counting retard.

You know, a lay man cannot weigh the essentials of scientific discovery.

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Try reading the article Joe.

Your opinion on what is and isn't useful science has been noted.

I also took note that I am meant to be outraged when you think I ought to be, but, I ignored it. Odd that, isn't it Joe?

Its funny how you post an article... The Bohr says something about blowing the moon out of orbit and throwing off the tide (of which wasn't posted here or in the article) and you accuse me of not reading the article. Hmm.. You seem to do this on a daily basis here.

Again, who said anything about that?

[Peikko 1,575]

Try reading the article Joe.

Your opinion on what is and isn't useful science has been noted.

I also took note that I am meant to be outraged when you think I ought to be, but, I ignored it. Odd that, isn't it Joe?

Its funny how you post an article... The Bohr says something about blowing the moon out of orbit and throwing off the tide (of which wasn't posted here or in the article) and you accuse me of not reading the article. Hmm.. You seem to do this on a daily basis here.

Again, who said anything about that?

Read it again Joe, slowly this time

[Marilyn. 340]

Try reading the article Joe.

Your opinion on what is and isn't useful science has been noted.

I also took note that I am meant to be outraged when you think I ought to be, but, I ignored it. Odd that, isn't it Joe?

Its funny how you post an article... The Bohr says something about blowing the moon out of orbit and throwing off the tide (of which wasn't posted here or in the article) and you accuse me of not reading the article. Hmm.. You seem to do this on a daily basis here.

Again, who said anything about that?

Well, we all woke up this morning, didn't we? That's a success...of sorts

Nasa's hopes of filming a spectacular crash on the moon were dashed today when satellite and telescope imagery failed to record the enormous plume of rock and dust that scientists had predicted.

The US space agency steered two parts of a spacecraft, called LCROSS, into the moon at more than 9,000 kilometres per hour, in the final act of a mission designed to look for signs of water.

Nasa scientists anticipated the impact would knock enough dust and rock out of the lunar surface to form a 10km-high cloud of debris that could be scanned for evidence of frozen water.

But when the collision occurred at 12.31pm today, no signs of the plume were spotted, even from the nearby second stage, which crashed into the moon four minutes later.

The disappointment came a day after staff at Nasa's headquarters in Washington DC faced a flood of calls from people who objected to the agency "bombing" the moon, some of whom feared the damage would disrupt tides on Earth and even their menstrual cycles.

At a Nasa press conference, Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator on the LCROSS mission, said of the missing plume: "We haven't been able to see it clearly in our data yet." He added that scientists were working "feverishly" on information sent back from LCROSS.

The spacecraft ploughed into an existing 100km-wide moon crater called Cabeus which is permanently in shade at the lunar south pole. Scientists believe the crater may contain frozen water that would be kicked up by the impact.

One theory is that the impact site was unexpectedly hard and that rock and soil gouged out by the impact failed to rise high enough to be lit up by sunlight.

"If it turns out to be as dull as it looked, I'd imagine the soil just didn't respond as was hoped to being hit," said Vincent Eke, an astronomer at the University of Durham who helped Nasa choose the impact site. "It might mean we don't get sufficient data, which would be a shame," he added.

Link

Edited October 9, 2009 by Marilyn.

[Joseph & Ana 0]

My bad - I must have missed that sentence HAHAHAAH what a dork.

[Peikko 1,575]

NM - Marylin did it already.

Edited October 9, 2009 by Madame Cleo

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Whoah whoah whoah guys...