Study of NASA GRAIL mission data looks to unlock lunar secrets

New MIT research focusing on the gravitational signature of craters on the far side of the Moon is shedding light on the nature and origin of the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB), as well as the earliest life-supporting processes that took place in our solar system.

The research drew on data from NASA’s twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft. The GRAIL mission mapped the gravitational profile of around 1,200 craters on the Moon’s far side by observing the push and pull between the spacecraft as they passed over the lunar surface.

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by observing the push and pull

Isn’t that code for watching somebody wanking?

CrazyNeutrino said:

Study of NASA GRAIL mission data looks to unlock lunar secrets

New MIT research focusing on the gravitational signature of craters on the far side of the Moon is shedding light on the nature and origin of the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB), as well as the earliest life-supporting processes that took place in our solar system.

The research drew on data from NASA’s twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft. The GRAIL mission mapped the gravitational profile of around 1,200 craters on the Moon’s far side by observing the push and pull between the spacecraft as they passed over the lunar surface.

The team from MIT then subjected the data to Bouger correction, a process that removed the gravity readings created by mountains, valleys and other surface features.

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“Bouger correction” is misspelled, it should be “Bouguer reduction”.

The process of Bouguer reduction helps me make sense of earlier results from the predecessor of GOCE, which was the predecessor of GRAIL that determined the gravity anomaly map of the Earth rather than the Moon. Earlier, from COCE.