The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite launched yesterday, after months of delays and with very little media attention. Originally scheduled to launch in October 2008, this mission will crash a 1,000 kg impactor into the moon at over 9,000 km/hr. Then it will fly through the debris and see what came up. (I love these missions that seem to have been conceived by ten year old boys!) The reason for doing this is to determine if there is any subsurface water on the moon, ostensibly to support any future lunar stations or settlements.
Also launching was the LRO, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. With very high resolution imagers on board, LRO will take detailed 3-D images of the surface of the moon in order to identify possible future landing sites, and will even be on the lookout for any of the leftover Apollo equipment we left on the moon.
I'll keep you updated on further developments, and of course let you know when we start seeing 3-D lunar surface images.
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