This image of the far side of the lunar surface, with Earth in the background, was taken by the MoonKAM system board the Ebb spacecraft as part of the first image set taken from lunar orbit from March 15 – 18, 2012. Credit: NASA/Caltech-JPL/MIT/SRS
PASADENA, Calif., March 22 (UPI) -- NASA says one of its twin GRAIL spacecraft orbiting the moon has sent back the first student-requested image of the surface taken with its on-board camera.
Fourth-grade students from the Emily Dickinson Elementary School in Bozeman, Mont., had received the honor of making the first image selection by winning a nationwide competition to rename the two spacecraft. Previously named Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory A and B, the twin spacecraft are now called Ebb and Flow.
The image was taken by the MoonKam, or Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students, on the Ebb spacecraft, a release from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said Thursday.
More than 60 student–requested images were taken by the Ebb spacecraft March 15-17 and downlinked to Earth March 20.
"MoonKAM is based on the premise that if your average picture is worth a thousand words, then a picture from lunar orbit may be worth a classroom full of engineering and science degrees," said Maria Zuber, GRAIL mission principal investigator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
GRAIL is NASA's first planetary mission to carry instruments fully dedicated to education and public outreach.
Students can select target areas on the lunar surface and request images to study from the GRAIL MoonKAM Mission Operations Center in San Diego.
"Through MoonKAM, we have an opportunity to reach out to the next generation of scientists and engineers," Zuber said. "It is great to see things off to such a positive start."
