MDDM-related: moon mapping news

[Doug Millison]

[...] An instrument that will map the entire surface
of the Moon and determine the minerals and elements in
its rocks is due to be delivered to the European Space
Agency (ESA) this week. The D-CIXS instrument is a
tiny imaging X-ray spectrometer the size of a toaster
and weighing less than 5 kilograms. It will be taken
as hand luggage to the ESA’s Estec research and
technology centre in the Netherlands on Tuesday 6
August, to be mounted on SMART-1, the first of a new
generation of European “smaller, faster, cheaper”
spacecraft. [...]  The Smart-1 satellite is scheduled
for launched next February and is the first European
spacecraft to travel to, and orbit, the Moon. D-CIXS
will be providing the first high-resolution global
X-ray map of the Moon, with the relative abundances of
the different elements in the lunar surface.
Scientists are particularly interested to see if there
is a correlation between the rocks on the Moon and
those found on Earth, especially establishing the
ratio of magnesium and iron. This evidence will give
us clues on the origins of the Earth-Moon system, and
how the Moon was formed and evolved. Scientists have
different theories for this: 
* the Moon was formed at the same time as Earth
* the Moon split away from Earth following a large
impact on our planet 
* the Moon was formed elsewhere in space and
‘captured’ by Earth’s gravity. 

D-CIXS will give us the evidence which will help
determine the answer. [...] 
See CCLRC’s website at:
http://sspg1.bnsc.rl.ac.uk/Share/d-cixs.htm for
information about the D-CIXS instrument.

For information about ESA’s Smart-1 satellite, see
their website at: http://sci.esa.int/smart 

Checkout the nine planets website for information
about the Moon:
http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/luna.html

[...] 
Reference URL :
http://sspg1.bnsc.rl.ac.uk/Share/d-cixs.htm






  

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better
http://health.yahoo.com