NASA Crashes on the Moon Twice in Quest to Find Presence of Water in the Moon's Soil

NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite dropped its Centaur upper-stage rocket on the lunar surface at 7:31 a.m. ET. The hope is that the impact would kick up enough dust to help the LCROSS probe find the presence of water in the moon's soil. Four minutes after the impact, the LCROSS followed the probe through the small debris plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before crashing into the Cabeus crater near the moon's south pole.

According to NASA, the LCROSS carried spectrometers, near-infrared cameras, which is a visible camera and a visible radiometer. These instruments will help scientists analyze the plume of dust, more than 250 metric tons' worth, for water vapor. The orbiting Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter watched, and photographed, the impacts.



Watch animation of how the moon will be "bombed" »