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Grail Spacecraft Captures Lunar Far Side for MoonKAM Project
Credit: NASA
This image of the far side of the lunar surface, with Earth in the background, was taken by the MoonKAM system board the Ebb spacecraft as part of the first image set taken from lunar orbit from March 15 to 18, 2012. [
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MoonKAM Project - Far Side of Lunar Surface
Credit: NASA
This image of the lunar surface was taken by the MoonKAM system onboard the Ebb spacecraft on March 15, 2012. The 42.3-mile-wide (68-kilometer-wide) crater in the middle of the image (with the smaller crater inside) is Poinsot. Crater Poinsot, named for the French mathematician Louis Poinsot, is located on the northern part of the moon's far side. [
Full Story]
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MoonKAM: The Universe's First Student-Run Planetary Camera
Credit: NASA
This infographic explains how students take pictures from lunar orbit using the Grail mission’s MoonKAM.
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Grail Photo of Dark Side of the Moon
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
One of NASA's twin Grail spacecraft has returned its first unique picture of the far side of the moon, an image that shows shadowed craters at the moon's south pole.
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Illustration of the Moon's Interior
Credit: NASA
An artist's concept of the moon's interior. NASA's twin GRAIL probes will gather data that should help scientists better understand the moon's composition and evolution.
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Grail Formation Flyers
Credit: NASA
Using a precision formation-flying technique, the twin Grail spacecraft will map the moon's gravity field, as depicted in this artist's rendering. Radio signals traveling between the two spacecraft provide scientists the exact measurements required as well as flow of information not interrupted when the spacecraft are at the lunar farside, not seen from Earth. The result should be the most accurate gravity map of the moon ever made.
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Grail Launches with Tower on the Left
Credit: NASA/Kenny Allen
At ignition, flames and smoke from the engines begin liftoff of the Delta 2 Heavy rocket taking NASA's twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission to the moon from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. At left stands the pad's mobile service tower.
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Grail-A Moon Probe in Space
Credit: NASA TV
This view of NASA's Grail-A spacecraft (top) shows the moon gravity probe just before it separated from its Delta 2 rocket high above Earth after a successful launch on Sept. 10, 2011. Grail-A is one of two twin spacecraft to study the moon's gravity in unprecedented detail.
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GRAIL Inside Payload Fairing
Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
At Space Launch Complex 17B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the second half of the clamshell-shaped Delta payload fairing swings into place around NASA's twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory spacecraft under the scrutiny of a spacecraft technician.
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Grail Moon Orbiter Illustration
Credit: Lockheed Martin
Artist's concept of the two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft orbiting the moon. NASA launched the twin probes in September 2011 to study the moon's gravitational field in unprecedented detail.
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GRAIL Arrives at the Launch Pad
Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
In the predawn light of August 18, 2011, NASA's twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft arrive at at Space Launch Complex 17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
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How the GRAIL Mission Works
Credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com
Infographic shows how GRAIL mission maps the moon's gravity field
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Protecting GRAIL
Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
On Aug. 12, 2011, a crane lifts the protective canister that will enclose NASA's twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory spacecraft, at right, during transport to the launch pad. The lunar probes are attached to a spacecraft adapter ring in their side-by-side launch configuration and wrapped in plastic to prevent contamination outside the clean room.
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Shine a Light on GRAIL
Credit: NASA/Frankie Martin
Lockheed Martin technicians in the Astrotech Space Operations payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., test the solar arrays on NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory-A, or GRAIL-A, spacecraft on July 28, 2011, to ensure that they will function as planned during the mission.
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GRAIL's Solar Array Tested
Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
Technicians at Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., are conducting solar panel deployment tests on NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, twin spacecraft, on June 18, 2011.
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Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) Spacecraft
The twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft are mirror images of one another. The probes will orbit the moon and take detailed measurements of the lunar gravity field.
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NASA's Grail Mission at the Moon
Credit: NASA/JPL
Artist's concept of NASA's Grail mission. Grail's twin spacecraft are flying in tandem orbits around the moon to measure its gravity field in unprecedented detail.
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GRAIL Moved to the Test Stand
Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
Technicians lift one of two spacecraft for NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, to a test stand in the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, FL, on May 21, 2011.
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Double Your Spacecraft
Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, twin spacecraft stand side by side as they are prepared for testing and processing in the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla.
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GRAIL's Airport Arrival
Credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
NASA's two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft wait to be offloaded from an Air Force C-17 cargo plane on the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The pair of lunar probes traveled to the spaceport from the Lockheed Martin plant in Denver, CO, on May 20, 2011.
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Assembling GRAIL'S Delta 2 Rocket
Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
At NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B in Florida, the first and second stages of a Delta II launch vehicle and its nine solid rocket boosters are visible in the mobile service tower on May 10, 2011. The Delta II will launch NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft on a lunar mission.
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GRAIL's Delta 2 Rocket Second Stage
Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
Workers using an overhead crane lower the second stage of a Delta II launch vehicle toward the first stage for mating at NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B in Florida, on May 10, 2011. The payload fairing then will be raised into the white room of the mobile service tower. This rocket will launch NASA's twin GRAIL spacecraft.
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First Stage of GRAIL's Delta 2 Rocket
Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 17B, solid-fueled boosters are prepared for attachment to the first stage of the Delta II rocket that will launch the GRAIL twin spacecraft.
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GRAIL's Logo
Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft logo is emblazoned on the first stage of a United Launch Alliance Delta II launch vehicle, now secured in the gantry at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 17B.
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GRAIL'S Delta 2 First Stage Horizontal
Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
The first stage of a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket has arrived at Space Launch Complex 17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on April 7, 2011. The Delta II will be stacked at the launch pad and eventually topped by the payload fairing containing NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft.
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GRAIL'S Delta 2 First Stage
Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
Workers at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 17B monitor the progress as the first stage of a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket is lifted into the gantry, April 7, 2011.
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NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) Spacecraft
NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft will launch on a Delta 2 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
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GRAIL Spacecraft Lifted
Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
NASA hoists the twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft to the top of their launch pad at Space Launch Complex 17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
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GRAIL Payload Fairing Added to Booster
Credit: NASA/KSC
The payload fairing is added to the GRAIL booster.
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The Quest for the Lunar GRAIL
Credit: NASA/JPL
The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or Grail, mission will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon to measure its gravity field in unprecedented detail.
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Grail Mission - Spath
Credit: Leonard David for SPACE.com
Man with a mission…to the moon. Stuart Spath, chief engineer for NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, holds small models of the GRAIL twosome.
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NASA Grail Moon Satellite
Credit: Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin space engineers with NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL A) spacecraft, scheduled for launch this year.
