Temperature Spike Detected From Lunar Crash
LRO was launched in June along with a piggyback satellite known as LCROSS, which crashed a 2.5-ton spent rocket stage, along with itself, into a permanently shaded part of crater on the moon’s south pole.
The point of the operation was to kick up plumes of dust and debris so instruments on spacecraft and ground-based telescopes could scan the ejected material for signs of water.
LRO flew over the targeted crater 90 seconds after LCROSS’s empty Centaur rocket body smashed into the moon.
Scientists theorize that the lunar deep freeze may hold a cache of frozen water that possibly dates back several billions of years.
