ScienceMoon

New Crater On Moon Made By Crash Of NASA's LADEE Spacecraft

See The Moon's Newest Crater
Ed Mazza
By 

Overnight Editor, HuffPost

NASA is getting an up-close look at one of the moon's newest craters, but this beauty mark wasn't caused by a space rock that got just a little too close. It was created by the impact of a spacecraft that NASA deliberately smashed into the moon at 3,800 miles per hour.

The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft, which studied the moon's atmosphere, crashed into the surface of the far side on the completion of its seven-month mission in April. The 10-foot-diameter impact crater was found just two-tenths of a mile from its predicted location using images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).

Here is what the area of the LADEE impact looked like before and after the spacecraft hit:

“The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) team recently developed a new computer tool to search Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) before and after image pairs for new craters, the LADEE impact event provided a fun test," Mark Robinson, LROC principal investigator from Arizona State University in Tempe said in a news release. “As it turns there were several small surface changes found in the predicted area of the impact, the biggest and most distinctive was within 968 feet (295 meters) of the spot estimated by the LADEE operations team. What fun!”

The far side of the moon was chosen so there would be no chance the impact would hit the Apollo landing sites, NASA said in the release.

"I'm happy that the LROC team was able to confirm the LADEE impact point," Butler Hine, LADEE project manager at Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., was quoted as saying. "It really helps the LADEE team to get closure and know exactly where the product of their hard work wound up."

NASA said the LRO's mission has been extended by two years to "study the seasonal volatile cycle; determine how many small meteorites are currently hitting the moon and their effects; characterize the structure of the lunar regolith; investigate the moon’s interaction with the space environment; and reveal more about the lunar interior using observations of the moon’s surface."

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Before You Go

1
These Two Pictures Match
In 2008 the Japanese Selene probe obtained photographic evidence of the Moon landings, by comparing the image on the left (from the Apollo 15 landing) taken in July 1971 to its own 3D terrain camera images. They were exactly the same.
2
'The Foil Shot'
NASA Goddard Photo and Video/Flickr
This picture is often used to claim that there were 'studio lights' visible in the upper left corner. They were not studio lights, as explained by Roger Launius, of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. "Okay, let's take a step back. NASA's going to release a picture showing studio lights? Hello! The odd lights in the picture are simply lens flares," he told National Geographic, sensibly.
3
We Can See It
NASA Goddard Photo and Video/Flickr
It is often claimed that if the Lunar landings were real, we could see them from the Earth, or the Hubble Telescope. Nope. Fact is they're just too far away. On the other hand, we can see the Lunar landing sites thanks to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Here is the picture. You're welcome.
4
Other Space Craft Have Seen It
Euclid vanderKroew/Flickr
The Lunar landings have been spotted by China's Chang'e 2 lunar probe, the Indian Chandrayaan-1 probe, and various other independent (non NASA-funded) space agencies.
5
This Thing.
... is a glass spherule (about 0.6 mm in diameter) produced by a meteorite impact into lunar soil. "We've found particles of fresh glass in Moon rocks that were produced by explosive volcanic activity and by meteorite impacts over 3 billion years ago," explains Dr. Marc Norman, a lunar geologist at the University of Tasmania. "The presence of water on Earth rapidly breaks down such volcanic glass in only a few million years. These rocks must have come from the Moon!"
6
This.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Lunar rocks brought back by Nasa from the Moon are identical in all vital and important ways to those found elsewhere on Earth.
7
The Flag Was Flapping, And That Makes Sense
ASSOCIATED PRESS
One claim made by Apollo 11 conspiracy theorists is that the American flag was seen 'flapping' on the surface of the Moon. Fact is, that's totally expected. No, there isn't any wind on the Moon - but there is momentum and intertia. The fabric of the flag was moved around while being set in position, and naturally waved as it was being set up. It also has a pole along the top to keep it in position - otherwise it would hang straight down.
8
Who Took The Pictures?
NASA Goddard Photo and Video/Flickr
One of the frequent claims is that the Apollo 11 mission included images of the two astronauts with no obvious cameraman. As National Geographic explains here, that was because there were cameras in the chests of both astronauts' suits, and on the Lander.
9
'Where Are The Stars?'
sjrankin/Flickr
One of the claims made to support the hoax theory is that there were no stars pictured from the surface of the Moon. But this is because the Moon is very bright, reflecting a lot of the Sun's light. There are no stars because the cameras couldn't pick them up.
10
The Restored Images Are Amazing
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the landings NASA put together a series of remastered images and footage of the Apollo 11 mission. The images are stunning, and blow away the age-old criticism that the Apollo footage was somehow intentionally bad to obscure the fact it was filmed in a studio, or whatever.
11
This Expression
ASSOCIATED PRESS
This is the face of a man who has just walked on the Moon (Neil Armstrong), not the face of a man who has just faked it.
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