Post by unleashed on Oct 10, 2009 1:24:27 GMT -5
WASHINGTON – NASA's great lunar fireworks finale fizzled. After gearing up for the space agency's much-hyped mission to hurl two spacecraft into the moon, the public turned away from the sky Friday anything but dazzled. Photos and video of the impact showed little more than a fuzzy white flash.
In social media and live television coverage, many people were disappointed at the lack of spectacle. One person even joked that someone hit the pause button in mission control.
Yet scientists involved in the project were downright gleeful. Sure, there were no immediate pictures of spewing plumes of lunar dust that could contain water, but, they say, there was something more important: chemical signatures in light waves. That's the real bonanza, not pictures of geyser-like eruptions of debris, the scientists said.
The mission was executed for "a scientific purpose, not to put on a fireworks display for the public," said space consultant Alan Stern, a former NASA associate administrator for science.
Scientists said the public expected too much. The public groused as if NASA delivered too little.
The divide was as big as a crater.
"We've been brainwashed by Hollywood to expect the money shot, like 'Deep Impact' or when Bruce Willis saves us from a comet," said physicist and television host Michio Kaku, who was not part of the mission. "Science is not done that way."
My comments:-
Great news for all moon mission! Cheers to NASA and all scientists working on these missions.
Source:-
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091010/ap_on_sc/us_sci_shoot_the_moon;_ylt=AsHOQ59o2gE8OZ0XfwV.iH4PLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJtazZzcWc2BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMDEwL3VzX3NjaV9zaG9vdF90aGVfbW9vbgRjcG9zAzMEcG9zAzcEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDbW9vbmNyYXNocHVi
