NASA鈥檚 Lunar Prospector probe went out with a bang on 31 July, slamming into
a crater at the Moon鈥檚 South Pole. But unfortunately it failed to kick up the
plume of debris that scientists hoped would provide definitive evidence of
frozen water on the Moon.
Although telescopes observing the visible spectrum saw nothing, the Lunar
Prospector鈥檚 telemetry equipment indicates that the craft hit its target. And
scientists still hope that detailed analysis will show that water spewed out
into space. 鈥淚t will take a couple of weeks to extract the signal from the
noise,鈥� says David Leckrone of NASA鈥檚 Goddard Space Flight Center near
Greenbelt, Maryland.
Lunar Prospector also carried the ashes of planetary scientist and
comet-spotter Eugene Shoemaker, who died in 1997. NASA officials thought that it
was a fitting tribute to bury him on the Moon.
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A second NASA spacecraft also experienced mixed fortunes last week. On 29
July, the Deep Space 1 spacecraft flew to within about 15 kilometres of asteroid
1992 KD, otherwise known as Braille. This was the closest ever approach to a
planetary body without actually landing on it and was performed using the
spacecraft鈥檚 unique autonomous navigation system.
Unfortunately, Deep Space 1鈥檚 camera was pointing in the wrong direction at
the time. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 look too optimistic from the black-and-white photos,鈥�
admits John Watson, a spokesman at NASA鈥檚 Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena.
Since Deep Space 1 was primarily intended to demonstrate new
technology鈥攊ncluding its ion engine and the navigation system that
excelled last week鈥攖he failed attempt to photograph the asteroid is only a
minor disappointment for mission controllers.