Fox News: NASA takes first ever video of dark side of the moon

[zorgon]

Fox News: NASA takes first ever video of dark side of the moon

I just thought this headline is SO FUNNY

Dark side of the Moon?

First EVER? So is this admission that Apollo wasn't real? 

And just WHY did they need to send two spaceships to measure and study the Gravity on the moon> I thought thye already knew all about that? 

Grail Mission


Caption:One of NASA's twin Grail spacecraft has returned its first unique picture of the far side of the moon, an image that shows shadowed craters at the moon's south pole.

A gravity-mapping spacecraft orbiting the moon has beamed home its first video of the lunar far side — a view people on Earth never see.

The new video was captured by one of NASA's twin Grail probes using a novel camera called MoonKAM, which will eventually be used by students on Earth to snap photos of the lunar surface as part of an educational project. The two spacecraft have been circling the moon since they arrived in orbit over the New Year.

"The quality of the video is excellent and should energize our MoonKAM students as they prepare to explore the moon," said Maria Zuber, Grail principal investigator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, in a statement accompanying the video's release today (Feb. 1).

Because the moon is tidally locked with Earth, it only presents one face to the planet's surface (the near side). The side of the moon that faces away from Earth is the far side. Only robotic spacecraft and Apollo astronauts who orbited the moon in the 1960s and 1970s have seen the far side of the moon directly.

The new video is about 30 seconds long and shows the far side of the moon as a stark, scarred landscape. Dozens of craters are visible in the field of view.

As the video begins, the vast impact basin of Mare Orientale — which is 560 miles (900 kilometers) wide and straddles the near and far sides, is clearly visible in the lower third of the frame, according to a NASA description. To the left of the middle is the Drygalski crater, a 93-mile-wide (149 kilometer) basin that stands out because of the star-shaped formation in its center.

While NASA released the lunar far side video today, it was actually recorded Jan. 19 by one of the Grail probes, which are now called Ebb and Flow. The Grail mission's name stands for Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory. Both spacecraft are equipped with their own MoonKAM (or Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students) cameras.

The MoonKAM project is an effort led by former astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, to encourage student interest in science. It is the first set of cameras ever to fly on a NASA planetary probe that is completely dedicated to education and public outreach.

NASA takes first ever video of dark side of the moon
By Tariq Malik
Published February 02, 2012

Grail Mission Snaps Far Side of the Moon - First Look - Space.com
Video clip here

Holy GRAIL! Photos From NASA's Moon Gravity Mission

Its a very short crappy video 

[zorgon]

NASA Grail Mission
GRAIL - Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory

So rather than get the info from Fox or Space,com, we might as well go to the source Same video and pictures without the ads

NASA Mission Returns First Video From Moon's Far Side
02.01.12


South pole of the far side of the moon as seen from the GRAIL mission's Ebb spacecraft. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

PASADENA, Calif. -- A camera aboard one of NASA's twin Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) lunar spacecraft has returned its first unique view of the far side of the moon. MoonKAM, or Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students, will be used by students nationwide to select lunar images for study.

GRAIL consists of two identical spacecraft, recently named Ebb and Flow, each of which is equipped with a MoonKAM. The images were taken as part of a test of Ebb's MoonKAM on Jan. 19. The GRAIL project plans to test the MoonKAM aboard Flow at a later date.

To view the 30-second video clip, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/zZXAPs .

In the video, the north pole of the moon is visible at the top of the screen as the spacecraft flies toward the lunar south pole. One of the first prominent geological features seen on the lower third of the moon is the Mare Orientale, a 560-mile-wide (900 kilometer) impact basin that straddles both the moon's near and far side.

The clip ends with rugged terrain just short of the lunar south pole. To the left of center, near the bottom of the screen, is the 93-mile-wide (149 kilometer) Drygalski crater with a distinctive star-shaped formation in the middle. The formation is a central peak, created many billions of years ago by a comet or asteroid impact.

"The quality of the video is excellent and should energize our MoonKAM students as they prepare to explore the moon," said Maria Zuber, GRAIL principal investigator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

The twin spacecraft successfully achieved lunar orbit this past New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Previously named GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B, the washing machine-sized spacecraft received their new names from fourth graders at the Emily Dickinson Elementary School in Bozeman, Mont., following a nationwide student naming contest.

Thousands of fourth- to eighth-grade students will select target areas on the lunar surface and send requests to the GRAIL MoonKAM Mission Operations Center in San Diego. Photos of the target areas will be sent back by the satellites for students to study. The MoonKAM program is led by Sally Ride, America's first woman in space. Her team at Sally Ride Science and undergraduate students at the University of California in San Diego will engage middle schools across the country in the GRAIL mission and lunar exploration. GRAIL is NASA's first planetary mission carrying instruments fully dedicated to education and public outreach.

"We have had great response from schools around the country; more than 2,500 signed up to participate so far," Ride said. "In mid-March, the first pictures of the moon will be taken by students using MoonKAM. I expect this will excite many students about possible careers in science and engineering."

Launched in September 2011, Ebb and Flow periodically perform trajectory correction maneuvers that, over time, will lower their orbits to near-circular ones with an altitude of about 34 miles (55 kilometers). During their science mission, the duo will answer longstanding questions about the moon and give scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages the GRAIL mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The GRAIL mission 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.

For more information about GRAIL, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/grail .

Information about MoonKAM is available at: https://moonkam.ucsd.edu .

JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.


DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
agle@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Caroline McCall 617-253-1682
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
cmcall5@mit.edu

Whitney Lawrence Mullen
Sally Ride Science, San Diego 858-638-1432
wmullen@sallyridescience.com

2012-031

NASA Mission Returns First Video From Moon's Far Side

Grail Mission News

Grail Image Gallery - Only Launch so far

[zorgon]

GRAIL Artist's Rendition

Using a precision formation-flying technique, the twin GRAIL spacecraft will map the moon's gravity field, as depicted in this artist's rendering. Radio signals traveling between the two spacecraft provide scientists the exact measurements required as well as flow of information not interrupted when the spacecraft are at the lunar farside, not seen from Earth. The result should be the most accurate gravity map of the moon ever made.

The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon, including the size of a possible inner core, and it should provide scientists with a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. GRAIL is a part of NASA's Discovery Program.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Montana Students Pick Winning Names for Moon Craft 01.17.11


Artist concept of GRAIL mission. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon to measure its gravity field in unprecedented detail. Image credit: NASA/JPL

NASA and Students to Announce Names for Moon Probes 01.12.12

[zorgon]

GRAIL Flying in Formation (Artist's Concept)

Using a precision formation-flying technique, the twin GRAIL spacecraft will map the moon's gravity field.

The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon, including the size of a possible inner core, and it should provide scientists with a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. GRAIL is a part of NASA's Discovery Program.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the GRAIL mission. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, is home to the mission's principal investigator, Maria Zuber. The GRAIL mission is part of the Discovery Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. Launch management for the mission is the responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

[zorgon]

NASA's Twin Grail Spacecraft Reunite in Lunar Orbit
01.01.12


Artist concept of GRAIL-B performing its lunar orbit insertion burn. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

PASADENA, Calif. -- The second of NASA's two Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft has successfully completed its planned main engine burn and is now in lunar orbit. Working together, GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B will study the moon as never before.

"NASA greets the new year with a new mission of exploration," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "The twin GRAIL spacecraft will vastly expand our knowledge of our moon and the evolution of our own planet. We begin this year reminding people around the world that NASA does big, bold things in order to reach for new heights and reveal the unknown."

GRAIL-B achieved lunar orbit at 2:43 p.m. PST (5:43 p.m. EST) today. GRAIL-A successfully completed its burn yesterday at 2 p.m. PST (5 p.m. EST). The insertion maneuvers placed the spacecraft into a near-polar, elliptical orbit with an orbital period of approximately 11.5 hours. Over the coming weeks, the GRAIL team will execute a series of burns with each spacecraft to reduce their orbital period to just under two 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 (55 kilometers).

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 carries a small camera called GRAIL MoonKAM (Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students) with the sole purpose of education and public outreach. The MoonKAM program is led by Sally Ride, America's first woman in space, and her team at Sally Ride Science in collaboration with undergraduate students at the University of California in San Diego.

GRAIL MoonKAM will engage middle schools across the country in the GRAIL mission and lunar exploration. Thousands of fifth- to eighth-grade students will select target areas on the lunar surface and send requests to the GRAIL MoonKAM Mission Operations Center in San Diego. Photos of the target areas will be sent back by the GRAIL satellites for students to study.

A student contest that began in October 2011 also will choose new names for the spacecraft. The new names are scheduled to be announced in January 2012. Ride and Maria Zuber, the mission's principal investigator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, chaired the final round of judging.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages the GRAIL mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The GRAIL mission 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. JPL is a division of the Çalifornia Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

For more information about GRAIL visit: http://www.nasa.gov/grail.

Information about MoonKAM is available online at:

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/grail/education.cfm


DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
agle@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington                                                                           
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Caroline McCall 617-253-1682
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Cmccall5@mit.edu

NASA's Twin Grail Spacecraft Reunite in Lunar Orbit

[zorgon]

First of NASA's GRAIL Spacecraft Enters Moon Orbit
12.31.11


Artist concept of GRAIL mission. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

PASADENA, Calif. – The first of two NASA spacecraft to study the moon in unprecedented detail has entered lunar orbit.

NASA's Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL)-A spacecraft successfully completed its planned main engine burn at 2 p.m. PST (5 p.m. EST) today. As of 3 p.m. PST (6 p.m. EST), GRAIL-A is in an orbit of 56 miles by 5,197 miles (90 kilometers by 8,363 kilometers) around the moon that takes approximately 11.5 hours to complete.

"My resolution for the new year is to unlock lunar mysteries and understand how the moon, Earth and other rocky planets evolved," said Maria Zuber, GRAIL principal investigator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. "Now, with GRAIL-A successfully placed in orbit around the moon, we are one step closer to achieving that goal."

The next mission milestone occurs tomorrow when GRAIL-A's mirror twin, GRAIL-B, performs its own main engine burn to place it in lunar orbit. At 3 p.m. PST (6 p.m. EST) today, GRAIL-B was 30,018 miles (48,309 kilometers) from the moon and closing at a rate of 896 mph (1,442 kilometers per hour). GRAIL-B's insertion burn is scheduled to begin tomorrow, Jan. 1, at 2:05 p.m. PST (5:05 p.m. EST) and will last about 39 minutes.

"With GRAIL-A in lunar orbit we are halfway home," said David Lehman, GRAIL project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Tomorrow may be New Year's everywhere else, but it's another work day around the moon and here at JPL for the GRAIL team."

Once both spacecraft are confirmed in orbit and operating, science work will begin in March. The spacecraft will transmit radio signals precisely defining the distance between them as they orbit the moon in formation. As they fly over areas of greater and lesser gravity caused by both 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.

JPL manages the GRAIL mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. The GRAIL mission 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.

For more information about GRAIL visit: http://www.nasa.gov/grail.


DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
agle@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington                                                                           
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Caroline McCall 617-253-1682
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Cmccall5@mit.edu

2011-398

First of NASA's GRAIL Spacecraft Enters Moon Orbit

[Amaterasu]

ROFL!  I haven't read everything yet, but I have to admit THAT is hysterical!  "Dark" side of the moon!     First ever!

My gut is splitting.  Will post more if I find something to comment on!  Thanks for the laugh, zorg.  I needed that!

[johnlear]

Below is from the video NAZA just released. Below it is a Lunar Orbiter 5
photo 13. Which looks more real?



By johnlear at 2012-02-02



By johnlear at 2012-02-02

[Captain Dave]

Below is from the video NAZA just released. Below it is a Lunar Orbiter 5
photo 13. Which looks more real?



By johnlear at 2012-02-02



By johnlear at 2012-02-02

Well,
The first pic gives the impression of "nothing interesting to look at here." - Bland

The second pic looks like there are so many hidden hills and valleys and so much more to explore. - Expressive

Though both look "real", I think they took more pride in their work back in the day.

[spacemaverick]

If you take a look through a telescope or even a set of high power astronomy binoculars, the moon does not look like the NASA picture.  Some things about NASA never changes.

[zorgon]

Some things about NASA never changes.

One thing does... the opinion of the people   I am going to post some comments from this ATS thread...

Does anybody else think that the NASA GRAIL's video of the Moon's far side is a CGI job?

Originally posted by 1AnunnakiBastard
The more I watch this video, the more I'm convinced that's fake. I assume any person familiar with CGI render and programs such as 3D Max, Bryce and many others in which is not that hard to load a hi-res textured bump map of the Moon's surface onto a sphere, working some cameras and light sets and animate it, may have thought the same about the 1st video released by NASA's GRAIL mission.

Originally posted by R3velutionR3quired
weerd when i first watched it before this thread i thought that dosnt look real at all, maybe because theve been feeding us crap images for so long lol, its like look at the moon on a ps3 compared to a snes haha, no but really theres something about it that does not look real, im sure ive seen more realistic moon shots in films and games haha

Originally posted by R3velutionR3quired
and then theres the right hand side, i mean the craters and the edge of the right hand side look like some two bit game designer made it lol. oh and the transformers dark side of the moon and apollo 18 look more realistic and there cgi which means one of two things nasa still is using shawoddywoddy cameras or oue cgi actually now looks more real than real life haha

Originally posted by pshea38
Why anyone trusts anything that comes out of NAZI NASA is beyond me.
Have we not learned anything? Really?
The best way to proceed with NASA is to assume complete fakery until
categorically convinced otherwise!

Originally posted by mainidh
That sold me on it. 100% evidence it's CGI.

Originally posted by abe froman
Ummm.. I'm pretty sure I can get just as much detail of the moon from my porch with my telescope (not the farside but still...)I'm not so sure about towers and ancient structures though. Maybe project horizon reached a different conclusion than we a lead to believe.was there ever a point in history where the far side of the moon actually faced earth? I mean facing the earth would be the prime real estate. I hear the view is stunning.

Originally posted by LucidDreamer85
Now that I look at it again.
Yes def looks cgi....there is a part near the end right as it gets midway to the moon and it almost jumps slightly or just the way it moves is fake looking.

And the thread is only 1 1/2 pages so far 

[Ocker]

Well that video was less than thrilling

The spacecraft will apply the brakes with their insertion burn by 430 mph (692 kph) and 427 mph (687 kph) respectively to a more manageable speed.
Then in March they will set an orbit altitude of about 34 miles (55 kilometers) .

Looking forward to the video from the flyovers then.

I'm guessing camera malfunction..., although they just..... just... might amaze us.

Ocker

[Ocker]

This might Interest you Zorgon

Request pictures from the GRAIL mission - you pick the location and GRAIL satellites snap the photo

Although you might have to register the PRC Classroom first LOL to receive all the benefits of MoonKam.

https://moonkam.ucsd.edu/

Ocker

[spacemaverick]

Zorgon, you are right, people are not trusting NASA with the pictures.  I was able to make out features on the near side of the moon both with my 25 X 100 Astronomy binos and my ETX-80 telescope and the moon did not look that smooth.  I didn't look at the moon in its full phase but when part of it was in shadow.  Observed luminosities in the dark areas where I would see flashes of light periodically.  Though my binos and scope are not that powerful, I also saw some strange looking areas up in the area where John said there might be some structures.  Looking at the moon it would be in the upper right hand quadrant.  Shoot, I can even make out (as pinpoints of bright light) the visible moons of Jupiter with my large binos.  Yea, NASA is a joke.

[zorgon]

I Like to bash NASA like anyone else

BUT A point on this mission..

It is not meant to take photos of the moon. It is there to study the GRAVITY  so it doesn't have high res cameras.  So the real question is WHY do they need to study the gravity?

Back in the 1800's Professor Hansen said the gravity on the Moon on the farside is higher than on the nearside, He postulated that any atmosphere would be concentrated on farside

We know there are weird magnetic and gravity anomalies that have no explanation that are very powerful

When Japan sent up their probe they too discovered that the gravity is different on one side than the other.

Now NASA is sending new missions. How the heck did they pull off those flawless landings in those buckling tin cans when they don't yet understand the gravity on the moon?

Did it change? Did they lose the data like they did the tech on how they got there? Questions... too many questions and no real answers