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NASA's LCROSS project is launching a rocket (technically, a piece of an observation satellite) at the moon. Mission overview here, but basically the idea is to blast apart the outer layers of rock in order to get a better idea of what's underneath (and how much water might be contained inside the soil). Impact at approx 7:30AM, US Eastern time, on the moon's south pole. The impact will kick up a cloud of debris, which will then be sampled and analyzed by the main part of the satellite (which has been up there for about a decade)... which will then crash into the same area, kicking up more debris. You can watch live on TV, with a telescope, or online at NASA TV. Live coverage (pre-mission analysis, CGI demonstrations, etc.) should be starting shortly.
(Hopefully, it won't hit a small, previously unremarkable, thermal exhaust port, causing a chain reaction...)
ETA: Well... that was anticlimactic. Couldn't even see the impact on their webcast. Hopefully, we'll get better shots (and information) later, once they've had time to process the data.
(Hopefully, it won't hit a small, previously unremarkable, thermal exhaust port, causing a chain reaction...)
ETA: Well... that was anticlimactic. Couldn't even see the impact on their webcast. Hopefully, we'll get better shots (and information) later, once they've had time to process the data.