Google Moon offers us a close-up of the lunar landscape

via DVICE by Addy Dugdale on 7/21/09

NASA "arunca �n aer" Luna, �n cautarea resurselor de apa

via Antena3 - Stiinta on 6/19/09

NASA a lansat, joi noapte, o racheta spre Luna care are ca scop culegerea de informatii cu privire la posibilitatea ca omul sa colonizeze Luna. Lansarea a avut loc la centrul spatial Kennedy din Florida.

O naveta spatiala, care a fost trimisa pe orbita lunara, va elabora pentru prima data harti topografice detaliate si va studia craterele care ar putea ascunde urme de gheata.

"Avem de g�nd sa procuram datele necesare sa readucem omul pe Luna, unde sa poata sta pe durate extinse", a declarat unul dintre oficialii msiunii.

O a doua naveta spatiala va �ncerca sa detecteze apa �nghetata din solul lunar, declans�nd o explozie �ntr-un crater. Astfel, cercetatorii vor a putea studia fragmentele rezultate �n urma impactului.

NASA spera ca ghetarii ar putea fi o sursa de oxigen pentru astronauti si combustibil pe baza de hidrogen pentru vehiculele selenare.

"Acest experiment ar trebui sa fie unul spectaculos", spune unul dintre oamenii de stiinta care se ocupa de proiect.

Fenomenul va putea fi observat de catre astronomii amatori de pe Pam�nt.

Experimentul va fi realizat peste patru luni, dupa ce vor fi analizate hartile topografice si va fi aleasa zona �n care se va desfasura.

NASA to fire a big exploding rocket at the moon

via DVICE by AdamFrucci on 6/17/09

Now this sounds fun: NASA has plans to fire a rocket into the moon to create a six-mile high explosion. Why? To see if there's any water there that we might be able to use if we ever colonize our largest satellite.

Seriously, how awesome will this be? I can't wait to see the photos and videos of a six-mile high explosion taking place on the surface of the moon. Sure, the first moonwalk was great and all, but this is what man was destined to do on the moon. Blow stuff up.

So Close to the Moon You Can Almost Touch It

via�Gizmodo�by Jesus Diaz on 6/5/09

Selene� Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's spacecraft�mapping and filming the moon in High Definition�for the first time�keeps returning crystal-clear videos of the Moon surface. And the video will keep getting closer and closer, until it crashes.

The video next to these lines shows Antoniadi from approximately 13 miles (21 km). The large impact crater�located on the southern hemisphere, on the far side of the Moon�has an irregular edge, and it's one of the few craters in our satellite that has a second inner ring. Antoniadi's lowest point�measured by Selene's laser altimeter-is 5.5 miles deep.

The video below was taken from the perilune, the closest point to the Moon in Selene's trajectory: Just 6.8 miles high.

According to JAXA, the impact will take place on 18:30, June 10, 2009 (GMT) at E80 S63, on the near side of the moon, close to its south pole.

Until then, Kaguya�as it's called in Japanese�will keep recording high definition video at low altitude and doing whatever cool Moon probes do when they are not being watched, probably sing Sinatra songs. [JAXA YouTube Channel�and�JAXA]