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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Crashes on moon get icy response
Source: Agencies |
October 10, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
NASA smacked two spacecraft into the lunar south pole yesterday in a search for hidden ice but the big live public splash people anticipated didn't quite happen.
Instruments confirm that a large empty rocket hull barreled into the moon at 7:31am Washington time, followed four minutes later by a probe with cameras taking pictures of the first crash.
Screens got fuzz and no immediate pictures of the crash or the 9.65-kilometer plume of lunar dust that the mission was all about.
The public, which followed the crashes on the Internet and at observatories, seemed puzzled.
NASA officials touted loads of data from the probe and telescopes around the world and in orbit.
But most of the photos they showed during a press conference yesterday were from before the crash. The crash photos and videos were few and showed little more than a fuzzy white flash.
Still, NASA scientists were happy.
"This is so cool," said Jennifer Heldmann, coordinator for NASA's observation campaign. "We're thrilled."
"This is going to change the way we look at the moon," NASA chief lunar scientist Michael Wargo said at the news conference.
Expectations by the public for live plume video were too high and based on pre-crash animations, some of which were not by NASA, project manager Dan Andrews said.
Instruments confirm that a large empty rocket hull barreled into the moon at 7:31am Washington time, followed four minutes later by a probe with cameras taking pictures of the first crash.
Screens got fuzz and no immediate pictures of the crash or the 9.65-kilometer plume of lunar dust that the mission was all about.
The public, which followed the crashes on the Internet and at observatories, seemed puzzled.
NASA officials touted loads of data from the probe and telescopes around the world and in orbit.
But most of the photos they showed during a press conference yesterday were from before the crash. The crash photos and videos were few and showed little more than a fuzzy white flash.
Still, NASA scientists were happy.
"This is so cool," said Jennifer Heldmann, coordinator for NASA's observation campaign. "We're thrilled."
"This is going to change the way we look at the moon," NASA chief lunar scientist Michael Wargo said at the news conference.
Expectations by the public for live plume video were too high and based on pre-crash animations, some of which were not by NASA, project manager Dan Andrews said.
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