By Brandon Hollingsworth, APR News
Tuscaloosa, AL – A space probe with Alabama roots is scheduled to lift off today, only to crash into the Moon - on purpose.
The spacecraft is called the Lunar Crater Obervation and Surveying Satellite, or LCROSS. When a specially-designed portion of the probe crashes into the Moon in October, the cloud it raises will be analyzed by instruments sensitive to the presence of water vapor.
The results could give scientists an idea if water is present in the lunar crust. NASA says that's an important thing to know as the U-S prepares to return to manned lunar flights.
The mission's program office is located at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. Day-to-day operations will be handled by engineers at NASA's Ames Research Center, near San Francisco.
LCROSS is one of two spacecraft hitching a ride on the same rocket. Its companion, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, will provide detailed information on the Moon's temperature, ultraviolet reflection and surface features.
Liftoff is slated for 4:12 p.m. CDT today. The launch date was pushed back as NASA worked to repair a hydrogen leak on the space shuttle Endeavour.
NASA's LCROSS website says the impact's debris cloud could be bright enough to be visible from Earth, with the aid of an amateur telescope.