SMART-1 To Crash The Moon (article at NASA.gov)
The European Space Agency’s lunar orbiter, the SMART-1, will crash into the Moon on 9-2-06 at 1:41 AM EST.
This probe has orbited the moon for a few years, taking pictures and whatnot. But, now it’s running low on gas so they’re going to crash it.
“There’s nothing wrong with the spacecraft, which is wrapping up a successful 3-year mission to the Moon”
That sounds like a bunch of NASA B.S. to me.
and then there’s this..
“One of its most important discoveries was a “Peak of Eternal Light,” a mountaintop near the Moon’s north pole in constant, year-round sunlight. Peaks of Eternal Light are prime real estate for solar-powered Moon bases.”
Ehh sorry but you’re wrong NASA. You see, sometimes this phenomenon happens called a “total lunar eclipse“, where the Earth blocks ALL of the direct sunlight from reaching the moon. Constant, year-round sunlight my foot. Peep this simple diagram..
Lunar Eclipses for beginners (article)
Ok Ok, I know what you’re saying, “Wormbrain, you ignorant douche. Even though the Moon is in the Earth’s umbral shadow during a total eclipse, indirect sunlight still manages to reach and illuminate it as it is refracted through our atmosphere!”
I say that’s a poor excuse for sunlight. Or at least a poorly illuminated “Peak of Eternal Light”. In fact, during the total lunar eclipse of Dec `91, airborne dust from Mount Pinatubo blocked almost all of this refracted light from reaching the Moon.
“Peak of Not-Quite-Eternal-But-You’re-Too-Dumb-To-Know-Any-Better Light” is more like it. Plop a solar panel on it if you like, but let’s not get carried away with the name.
-
Ok so my question is..
Do I have a point here, or am I really an ignorant douche?
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
[copyright 2008 Wormbrain.com.]
August 30th, 2006 at 11:44 pm
I don’t really see them crashing the probe into the moon as a “dumb stunt”. I just needed a funny title and that one worked for me. I’m always willing to sacrifice science in the name of comedy.
August 31st, 2006 at 3:51 pm
An interesting post – as ever! Apparently they will just the crashing of the probe to analyse what happens when objects – such a meteors – collide with a planet. (Not that the moon is a planet). Nice to know that we are capable of further littering the moon in the name of science.