NASA Scientist’s Resolution: Unlock Lunar Mysteries

January 3, 2012 — Most people make New Year’s resolutions to eat healthier, exercise more, or spend more time with family and friends. But Maria Zuber isn’t most people. "My resolution for the new year is to unlock lunar mysteries and understand how the moon, Earth and other rocky planets evolved," said Zuber, GRAIL principal investigator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She came a little bit closer to making that resolution come true when the Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B for short, achieved lunar orbit on December 31 and January 1, respectively. Over the coming weeks, the GRAIL team will execute a series of burns with each spacecraft to reduce their orbital period from 11.5 hours to about 2 hours. At the start of the science phase in March 2012, the two GRAILs will be in a near-polar, near-circular orbit with an altitude of about 34 miles. During GRAIL's science mission, the two spacecraft will transmit radio signals precisely defining the distance between them. As they fly over areas of greater and lesser gravity caused by visible features such as mountains and craters, and masses hidden beneath the lunar surface, the distance between the two spacecraft will change slightly. Scientists will translate this information into a high-resolution map of the moon's gravitational field. The data will allow scientists to understand what goes on below the lunar surface. This information will increase knowledge of how Earth and its rocky neighbors in the inner solar system developed into the diverse worlds we see today. Each spacecraft also carries a small camera called MoonKAM with the sole purpose of education and public outreach. Thousands of fifth- to eighth-grade students will select target areas on the lunar surface and send requests to the mission operations center. Photos of the target areas will be sent back by the GRAIL satellites for students to study. GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B both launched aboard the same rocket in September 2011. VIDEO: GRAIL-A Spacecraft Arrives at the Moon After firing its main engine for 39 minutes, the GRAIL-A spacecraft was captured into lunar orbit.

Using a precision formation-flying technique, the twin GRAIL spacecraft will map the moon's gravity field, as depicted in this artist's rendering. detail. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech A United Launch Alliance Delta II heavy rocket lifts off on September 10, 2011, carrying NASA's GRAIL spacecraft on its lunar mapping mission. Image credit: Thom Baur, United Launch Alliance Luanch

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