NASA launches probes to measure lunar gravity
Monday, 12 September 2011, 16:12 IST
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Washington: U.S. space agency NASA Saturday launched a new lunar mission that will enable scientists to better understand the moon's gravitational field and the lunar interior from crust to core. Near-identical Grail-A and Grail-B -- short for Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory -- blasted off at 9.08 a.m. (1308 GMT) aboard a Delta II heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Xinhua reported. The two craft will journey to the moon for more than three months, and enter a lunar orbit one after the other around New Year's Day. The mission is relatively short in duration - just 90 days once the two spacecraft reach the orbit. This is the first mission devoted to studying the core of the moon.
Source: IANS
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