posted December 21, 2009 04:37 PM               

Space Cover #36, LCROSS Impact on the Moon

Water on the Moon? For future long term lunar exploration water is a crucial resource to find on the moon because it would not be practical to transport to space the amount of water needed for human needs.

NASA selected a team of MMT Observatory astronomers as one of four ground-based telescope teams to observe the moon on impact with its Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission, known as LCROSS, which would impact the Moon on October 9, 2009 in an attempt to detect water.

The LCROSS mission consisted of a shepherding spacecraft and a rocket weighing as much as a large SUV that hit the moon at about 5,600 mph, excavating a crater about a third as wide as a football field and about as deep as the deep end of a swimming pool.

Instruments aboard the shepherding spacecraft were designed to search for evidence of water ice on the moon as the rocket collides with a permanently shadowed crater near one of the moon's poles.

Researchers predicted that impact debris plumes reaching 30 miles high would be visible from Earth with telescopes as small as 10 to 12 inches in diameter.

MMTO used state-of-the-art instruments to observe the expanding debris plume concurrently at three different wavelengths.

The ordinary looking cover shown above is a general printed envelope used by MMT Observatory for business mailings. The envelope was mailed on the date of the LCROSS impact with a Tucson AZ cancel. "Official" envelopes from participating institutions for space events are relatively scarce but can be found - usually in dollar boxes as they don't have spacific cachets dipicting the events. Keeping a list of events and their particiapting locations can result in great additions to ones collection.

posted December 21, 2009 07:18 PM               

MMT Observatory
The MMT is operated by the MMT Observatory (MMTO), a joint venture of the University of Arizona and the Smithsonian Institution. The MMT, located on the summit of Mt. Hopkins (the second highest peak in the Santa Rita Range of the Coronado National Forest) is 59 kilometers (38 miles) south of Tucson, Arizona. The MMT is on the grounds of the Smithsonian Institution's Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. Whipple Observatory also operates an administrative complex and Visitor Center at the base of Mt. Hopkins in Amado, Arizona.

posted December 22, 2009 02:49 PM               

Seeing Tom's official envelope canceled to mark the recent LCROSS impact on the moon, reminded me of an official envelope of mine of years ago that I just located.

It's a Rockwell International Space Division 7" company envelope that I obtained from Rockwell and then sent to the KSC post office to be cacheted (with NASA/KSC official cachet) and canceled for the ASTP launch. Rockwell's Space Division was the maker of the Apollo Command Modules.

posted December 24, 2009 08:15 AM               

The MMT Observatory (MMTO) is an astronomical observatory on the site of Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory.

The Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and is their largest field installation outside of their main site in Cambridge, Mass.

The MMTO is the home of the MMT (formerly Multiple Mirror Telescope), which currently has a primary mirror of 6.5 m in diameter.

The name originally comes from the fact that the light gathering for the telescope which was done by six smaller mirrors before the current primary mirror was installed.