GRAIL Sends Back First Video of the Moon's Far Side

By Nancy Atkinson - February 01, 2012 09:58 PM UTC | Planetary Science

A first look from GRAIL, showing the lunar far side! A camera aboard 'Ebb' -- one of NASA's twin Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) lunar spacecraft has returned its first unique view of the far side of the Moon. The camera is the MoonKAM, which is part of a special program for students to study the Moon.

"The quality of the video is excellent and should energize our MoonKAM students as they prepare to explore the Moon," said Maria Zuber, GRAIL principal investigator.

In the video, the north pole of the Moon is visible at the top of the screen as the spacecraft flies toward the lunar south pole. One of the first prominent geological features seen on the lower third of the Moon is the Mare Orientale, a 900-kilometer-wide (560-mile) impact basin that straddles both the Moon's near and far side.

GRAIL consists of two identical spacecraft, recently named Ebb and Flow, and each are equipped with a MoonKam. The images were taken as part of a test of Ebb's MoonKam on Jan. 19. The GRAIL project plans to test the MoonKAM aboard Flow soon.

Information on participating in the MoonKAM project.

Source:

NASA

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com