Menwith Hill School students look to the moon 6th graders track satellite for school project

Many parents have stories about "cool" science experiments they did in school – but how many of them can say they helped NASA track a satellite on its way to the moon?

That is what Menwith Hill School 6th, 7th and 8th grade students have been doing Oct. 5, 6 and 8 with the help of Leland "Wally" Walbruch, MHS Middle School science and High School / Earth and Space science teacher.

"This activity's main purpose is to make sure that LCROSS satellite is healthy and able to complete its mission: crashing into the moon to see if hydrogen and water is there," Mr. Walbruch said. "Another great result of this activity is to show the students that there are phenomenal careers in space – and not just as an astronaut."

Since June students around the world have been controlling a remote access radio telescope in Goldstone, Calif., located in the Mojave Desert, with assistance from personnel in a deep space network in Apple Valley, Calif., to track the satellite and make sure it is still "healthy."

"When we talk about the 'health' of a satellite, we have to know where it is and what it is doing so it can get to the moon," said Zack Lopez, an automated system analyst in Apple Valley, Calif., Oct. 8. (It was only 3:30 a.m. in California when this activity happened, and even earlier Oct. 5 and 6.) "Our mission is to try to find hydrogen and water on the moon. This will help us turn the moon into a 'pit stop' on the way to other locations such as Mars – or beyond."

During the sessions, students took turns using (and moving) the California telescope to find and complete checks of LCROSS to ensure it was going in the right direction at the right speeds, logging each cross scan into their sequence of events. This occurred through live discussions with Mr. Lopez, who took them step-by-step through the procedures of each telescope move and cross scan.

Students also completed activities which tested their math skills: solving tricky, complex multiplication questions. The easiest one was trying to figure out how many feet are in 34 meters - and the majority of these students didn't use a calculator like this reporter did (a humbling experience). After that, the students leapt into multiplying tens of thousands to decimals to the hundredth spot (this reporter quickly gave up at that point) to find out how fast the satellite was traveling, both in kilometers and miles.

The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite has been on a journey to the moon for several months, ending with a spectacular crash landing (on purpose) at the moon's south pole. This satellite is about the size of a large SUV. Its planned trajectory will crash it into a large crater, followed closely by the Centaur rocket that has propelled it during its journey, creating a smaller crater and a plume of materials which NASA will examine for hydrogen and water.

"Don't worry though – this won't hurt the moon," Mr. Walbruch said. "Asteroids and meteors have been hitting the moon for centuries, and it's still up there!"

All this preparation led to the finale on Oct. 9 – where the LCROSS satellite and Centaur rocket impacted the moon at more than 6,000 mph, creating a glorious explosion of rock, dust and other particles that NASA examined for hydrogen and water.

According to NASA, this is what has happened (feel free to envision the "Ferris Bueller" teacher at this part): "[At impact] As the ejecta rises above the target crater's rim and is exposed to sunlight, any water-ice, hydrocarbons or organics will vaporize and break down into their basic components. These components primarily will be monitored by the visible and infrared spectrometers. The near-infrared and mid-infrared cameras will determine the total amount and distribution of water in the debris plume. The spacecraft's visible camera will track the impact location and the behavior of the debris plume, while the visible radiometer will measure the flash created by the Centaur impact."

In layman's terms this means: When the satellite and rocket hit, NASA was able to see if there was any water, hydrogen or organic material that came up in the plume of stuff that rose from the crash site – and NASA will plan for future missions accordingly.