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Target Crater Selected For Impact Of LCROSS

Posted on: Tuesday, 8 September 2009, 12:36 CDT

NASA has identified the spot where it will search for water on the moon. Reporters are invited to attend the announcement of the target location where the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, and its spent Centaur rocket will hit in October. The briefing will take place at 10 a.m. PDT, Friday, Sept. 11, in the main auditorium, Building N201, of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency's Web site.

The selected crater is an optimal target for evaluating if water ice exists at the lunar south pole. Briefing participants are Daniel Andrews, LCROSS project manager, Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS principal investigator, and Jennifer Heldmann, lead for the LCROSS observation campaign.

Andrews will provide an update about the health of the spacecraft and mission activities. Colaprete will announce the target crater and explain the criteria and selection process. Heldmann will discuss the LCROSS observation campaign in which an international cadre of professional and amateur astronomers will view the impacts at 4:30 a.m. on Oct. 9.

To reach Ames, take U.S. Highway 101 to the Moffett Field/NASA Parkway exit and drive east on Moffett Field Boulevard toward the main gate. News media will be escorted from the visitor badge office parking lot to the main auditorium at 9:45 a.m. Journalists seeking telephone access should contact Jonas Dino at 650-604-5612 or jonas.dino@nasa.gov.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the LCROSS mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/lcross

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