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In September 2011, the GRAIL mission launched two unmanned spacecraft to the Moon, which entered into lunar orbit on December 31, 2011 and January 1, 2012. They orbited the Moon until December 17, 2012, when they impacted the surface near the Moon's north pole. This book contains three review articles co-authored by the GRAIL Science Team and Guest Scientists that describe the reasons for the GRAIL mission, the development of the necessary technology, and the design of the mission to acquire the most precise measurements of the lunar gravity field possible today. The book provides a detailed description of the GRAIL mission's scientific objectives, the instrumentation and its required performance, the complex simulation of the measurement system for determining the gravity field, and the innovative education and public outreach of the mission directed toward middle-school students who could select areas of the Moon for imaging with the onboard MoonKam camera system.
This volume is aimed at researchers and graduate students active in solar system science and planetology.
Originally published in Space Science Reviews journal, Vol. 178/1, 2013.
List of contents
Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL): Mapping the Lunar Interior from Crust to Core.- The Scientific Measurement System of the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) Mission.- The Lunar Gravity Ranging System for the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) Mission.
About the author
Christopher Russells war, als sein erstes Hörspiel im Jahr 1975 ausgestrahlt wurde, noch als Briefträger tätig. Seine Arbeit im öffentlichen Dienst hat er aber bald zugunsten einer Schichtdienst-Stelle aufgegeben, um mehr Zeit für das Schreiben zu haben. Seit 1980 ist er Vollzeit-Fernseh- und Radio-Drehbuchautor, und seit Kurzem auch Kinderbuchautor.
Summary
In September 2011, the GRAIL mission launched two unmanned spacecraft to the Moon, which entered into lunar orbit on December 31, 2011 and January 1, 2012. They orbited the Moon until December 17, 2012, when they impacted the surface near the Moon’s north pole. This book contains three review articles co-authored by the GRAIL Science Team and Guest Scientists that describe the reasons for the GRAIL mission, the development of the necessary technology, and the design of the mission to acquire the most precise measurements of the lunar gravity field possible today. The book provides a detailed description of the GRAIL mission’s scientific objectives, the instrumentation and its required performance, the complex simulation of the measurement system for determining the gravity field, and the innovative education and public outreach of the mission directed toward middle-school students who could select areas of the Moon for imaging with the onboard MoonKam camera system.
This volume is aimed at researchers and graduate students active in solar system science and planetology.
Originally published in Space Science Reviews journal, Vol. 178/1, 2013.