Twin NASA probes set for New Year's moon orbit
Source: MSNBC
NASA is counting down to a New Year at the moon with two new robot probes arriving in lunar orbit this weekend.
NASA's twin Grail spacecraft are closing in on the moon to map its gravitational field like no other mission has before. The first probe is slated to fire its rocket engine on Saturday (Dec. 30) at 4:21 p.m. EST (2121 GMT) to enter lunar orbit. The second spacecraft should follow with an engine burn of its own on Sunday (Jan. 1) at 5:05 p.m. EST (2205 GMT), NASA officials said.
The $496 million spacecraft, which are known as Grail-A and Grail-B for now, are expected to perform their lunar orbit entry maneuvers autonomously, without help from their mission control center on Earth. But a team of 40 Grail mission scientists is spending the New Year's weekend hovering over computers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., just to be sure.
"The anxiety level is heightened right now, and it is more so than with other missions, because we do have two spacecraft to go into lunar orbit," Grail project manager David Lehman of JPL told reporters earlier this week. "But we've been studying and working on this for three or four years — four years — and we're well-prepared for that."
More at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45834299/ns/technology_and_science-space/
