On this day in space! Sept. 10, 2011: NASA launches GRAIL probes to the moon to map lumpy lunar gravity
On Sept. 10, 2011, NASA's GRAIL spacecraft launched on a mission to the moon! Here's why the moon gravity mapping mission mattered.
On September 10, 2011, NASA launched the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, consisting of two spacecraft named Ebb and Flow, to explore the moon's gravitational fields. The mission aimed to map the lunar interior structure by analyzing the moon's gravity variations, caused by dense pockets of material left from asteroid impacts billions of years ago.
The spacecraft, Ebb and Flow, flew in tandem around the moon, orbiting it for about nine months before intentionally crashing into the lunar surface on December 17, 2012. The mission provided valuable insights into the moon's mascons (mass concentrations) and confirmed that large asteroid impacts during the early stages of the Moon's formation created these unique gravity patterns.
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