New prospects for the moon.In its effort to fund low-cost explorations of the solar system solar system, the sun and the surrounding planets, natural satellites, dwarf planets, asteroids, meteoroids, and comets that are bound by its gravity. The sun is by far the most massive part of the solar system, containing almost 99.9% of the system's total mass. , NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. has given the go-ahead to the Lunar Prospector, a small, $59 million spacecraft that will map the surface composition, magnetic field, and gravity of the moon The gravitational field of the Moon has been determined by the tracking of radio signals emitted by orbiting spacecraft. The principle used depends on the doppler effect, whereby the line-of-sight spacecraft acceleration can be measured by small shifts in frequency of the radio in unprecedented detail. It will also detect gases released from the lunar surface. During its mission, scheduled to begin in 1997 and last for at least 1 year, Prospector will fly to within 100 km of the moon from a polar orbit. The craft will carry three spectrometers and a magnetometer; radar tracking radar tracking an electronic technique used to follow the flight of birds. of Prospector's position and velocity will yield the gravity map. |
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