SCIENCE IN THE NEWS WEEKLY
Astronomy: Moon Debris and Manned Spaceflight
NASA's recent lunar-crash project may not have been a flop after all. Despite disappointing visuals at the time of impact, pictures now in circulation now tell a different story. They show that the high-speed collision of Cabeus on the moon's surface generated the debris plume needed for the sampling and imaging critical to the mission.
But if the United States is serious about launching manned missions to the moon or elsewhere, it needs to make the investment fast, a blue-ribbon panel told the White House last week.
Rather than depending on space travel, some astronomers are working on mimicking deep-space conditions right here on Earth. One team says it has created conditions analogous to those outside a black hole by blasting a plastic pellet with high-energy laser beams.
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