NASA's mission to bomb the Moon

[jason]

NASA will tomorrow launch a spectacular mission to bomb the Moon. Their LCROSS mission will blast off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying a missile that will blast a hole in the lunar surface at twice the speed of a bullet. The missile, a Centaur rocket, will be steered by a shepherding spacecraft that will guide it towards its target - a crater close to the Moon's south pole. Scientists expect the blast to be so powerful that a huge plume of debris will be ejected.

NASA's mission to bomb the Moon: Scientific American

 

[Deadhead Derek]

ok. uh, why exactly? ( I havent read the link yet, just my first reaction)

 

[gunner391]

Basically, the explosion will send a plume of ejecta up, where samples can be captured physically, as well as photographically. The samples will then undergo spectragraphic analysis to determine the presence of water. It's much faster and cheaper than actually landing and collecting samples, and samples can be retrieved from much further below the surface.