Thursday, January 10, 2013

Parting shots from "Ebb" MoonKAM prior to impact

Three days prior to its planned impact on a lunar mountain, mission controllers activated the camera aboard one of NASA's GRAIL twins to take some final photos from lunar orbit.  The video, released by JPL January 10, is from the GRAIL MoonKAM (Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students) cameras aboard "Ebb," December 14, 2012. The spacecraft was winding down in its polar orbit, still approximately 10 km above the northern hemisphere of the lunar farside, in the vicinity of Jackson crater.  "This imagery was acquired as part of a final checkout of the spacecraft systems prior to the "Sally Ride" impact site, December 17." [NASA/JPL/Sally Ride Science].

Embedded video from JPL

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