Planets and Moons  ID: 4023

GRAIL Impacts the Moon

The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission comprises a pair of satellites launched in September, 2011 and placed in orbit around the Moon in January, 2012. The two satellites, named Ebb and Flow, used radio signals to precisely measure their separation as they flew in formation, one following the other in the same nearly circular polar orbit. These measurements allowed mission scientists to build up an accurate and detailed gravity map of the Moon.

GRAIL ends its successful mission by impacting the Moon on December 17, 2012 at approximately 5:27 p.m. EST (22:27 UT). The two spacecraft were placed in an orbit that takes them within a kilometer of the surface, so low that they will hit the side of an unnamed mountain that lies between Mouchez and Philolaus craters, near the north pole at 75°45'N, 26°11'W. Ebb strikes first, followed 24 seconds later by Flow.

This animation shows the last three orbits of the two spacecraft, with views of the impact site. The impact occurs on the night side of a waxing crescent Moon, so the view shifts from a natural color Moon to a false-color elevation map.
 

Related


Visualization Credits

Ernie Wright (USRA): Lead Animator
Maria Zuber (Massachusetts Institute of Technology): Scientist
Erwan M. Mazarico (Massachusetts Institute of Technology): Scientist
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4023

Missions:
GRAIL
LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter)

Data Used:
LRO/LOLA/Digital Elevation Map also referred to as: DEM
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of this series:
The Moon

Keywords:
SVS >> Gravity
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Lunar
SVS >> Moon
SVS >> Hyperwall
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons
SVS >> GRAIL
SVS >> Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory