It is expecting that 2012 is good for Space scientists. NASA’s lunar “mapping” mission that is scheduled to last 82 days, is reaching at its destination.
The mission is of mapping the Lunar interior for that two robotic probes have launched that started orbiting the moon.
According to the report, Nasa’s twin GRAI (Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory), spacecraft covered 2.6-million-mile distance to put two robotics probes into lunar orbit.
NASA reported that the first GRAIL spacecraft finished a 40-minute braking maneuver at 5 pm EST (10pm GMT) on New Year’s Eve and the second spacecraft, followed suit 25 hours later, arrived on Sunday.
“Everything is looking good,” NASA posted on Twitter, added, “It’s going to be a great 2012.”
However over the next two months, the probes’ will be adjusted up to 34-mile-high orbits to set in a position so that it will be possible to measure changes of the moon’s gravity. They will speed up slightly in response to the extra gravitational tugs that scientists can use to model what is inside the moon.
Such measurement regarding the changes in distance between two craft helps scientists to create a gravity map of the moon. The changes in speed will be as a fraction of a micron per second. A micron is about the width of a red blood cell.
Although more than 100 missions to arrive in moon had been made, one was of Nasa’s 1969-1972 Apollo program, but still optimal information is missing regarding gravity of moon.
Meanwhile both probes are needed for the intricate gravity-mapping mission scheduled to begin in March and if the solar-powered probes, built by Lockheed Martin Corp, survive beyond the next lunar eclipse in June, the $496 million mission could be extended for a more detailed mapping survey.
