This video is for those of you who is a bit confused with LRO/LCROSS missions (who does what and who crashes on Moon :-) Everything is explained in details by real people involved in the mission. In short words: LRO and LCROSS missions are independent , they just launched on the same rocket. LRO is going to orbit the Moon and create a detailed map of it. LCROSS is taking second stage of the launch rocket with it and drops it into the Moon’s crater. After rocket stage falls on the Moon’s surface LCROSS flies through the whatever is erupted by collision and searches if there is any water. After this LCROSS hits the Moon itself not far from the first impact, in the same crater.
Crater is not the random one, we already know that there is a lot of hydrogen there, but don’t know in what form (everyone hopes its water :-). Also this crated is in permanent shadow, Sun never shines there, so if there is a water it wouldn’t be melted and lost, which increases our chance to find it there. We are looking for the water on the Moon, because it is very important resource to have for the future Moon station, you can get oxygen for breathing and hydrogen for fuel from water. Enjoy the video! Both spacecrafts were launched successfully yesterday on Atlas V rocket.
