These side-by-side, 3-D comparisons depict the unnamed lunar mountain targeted by the NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission for controlled impact of the Ebb and Flow spacecraft. They also include the ground tracks the spacecraft are expected to follow into the lunar terrain. These graphics were generated using data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter instrument aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.
On the left is the mountain with the ground track and mission termination point for the Ebb spacecraft. On the right is the mountain, ground track and mission termination point for the Flow spacecraft.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages the GRAIL mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, is home to the mission's principal investigator, Maria Zuber. GRAIL is part of the Discovery Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft. The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.
For more information about GRAIL, please visit http://grail.nasa.gov .
Name | Value | Additional Values |
---|---|---|
Target | Moon | |
System | Earth | |
Target Type | Satellite | |
Mission | GRAIL | Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) |
Instrument Host | GRAIL | Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter |
Host Type | Orbiter | |
Instrument | ||
Detector | ||
Extra Keywords | Color, Impact, Mountain | |
Acquisition Date | ||
Release Date | 2012-12-13 | |
Date in Caption | ||
Image Credit | NASA/JPL-Caltech/MIT/GSFC | |
Source | photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16493 | |
Identifier | PIA16493 |