Lunar crash to create a 10-kilometer plume of dust
OCT 05, 2009
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.023737
London Times Online : The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) will blast two huge chunks out of the lunar surface on Friday in order to have a closer look at what the Moon is made of.The plume will be created by dropping the Centaur upper stage of the rocket that fired LCROSS to lunar orbit onto the surface near one of the lunar poles.When the 2.4-tonne Centaur hits the ground, it will be traveling at 2.5 km per second, and throw up a plume of debris 10 km high that can be analyzed by instruments on the LCROSS spacecraft.
© 2009 American Institute of Physics
