Attack of the Geminids

Take Cover! Space Rocks are entering the atmosphere RIGHT NOW!

It's time for the annual encounter with debris from the comet 3200 Phaethon. Each year, as the Earth revolves around the Sun, we come upon the orbital path taken by the comet, which is considered a "B-Type" asteroid, having a dark surface and still emitting dust and debris as its elliptical orbit (more like a comet than asteroid) brings it closer to the Sun. Its orbit is classed as an Apollo-type, and it orbits out from the Sun farther than the Earth's orbit but regularly crosses our path. Astronomers have linked the debris shed by 3200 Phaethon as the exact objects that encounter the Earth during the Geminid meteor shower each year. You can read more about 3200 Phaeton at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3200_Phaethon .

Geminid meteors will be seen coming from the constellation Gemini. Chart view from Sky and Telescope.com.

If you have the endurance to look for the meteors during this very cold winter blast, look toward the constellation of Gemini. Sky and Telescope Magazine has a nice chart for you at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/skytel/beyondthepage/234792751.html

The Geminid shower started last night, and according to reports in SpaceWeather.com, the NASA cameras have detected 23 Fireballs over the US so far, and we can expect the shower to last over the next few days. Check out the orbital paths of the debris at: http://www.spaceweather.com/ while he has the images up.

Geminid Fireball from 2011. Credit Mount Washington Valley Astronomy: http://mwvastronomy.net/2011/12/geminid-meteor-shower-dec-13th-14th-2011/

From the Command Bunker: I should be safe from the bombardment here in the SpaceRubble Command Bunker. It's a very rare thing indeed for a home to be hit from a meteorite, but then again, look what just happened to the Russians in Chelyabinsk! I'm afraid I won't be spending Too Much time observing for meteor trails, as the temperature here is far below freezing at night. Yet, if the sky is clear tonight, the peak of the meteor shower is expected Dec. 12-13. Based on the report of fireballs, it seems that the outer space enemy of the Comet Empire still has some life in that old asteroid 3200 Phaeton, and these bombardments can be expected next year and many years after that. Shields Up! 

Another Asteroid Passes close to Earth

Asteroid orbit path comes close to Earth, left of center.

2013 continues to be the Year of the Asteroid Menace. Today a recently-discovered asteroid, 2013 LR6, will approach the Earth's orbit today and pass close by tomorrow. The 50 foot-wide rock will come closer than does the Moon, at about 68,000 miles (the Moon is at about 240,000 miles). That's close in NEO terms (Near Earth Objects). 

Yahoo News has a good article explaining more about this event and a link to watch the approach LIVE: http://news.yahoo.com/asteroid-fly-within-moons-orbit-tomorrow-watch-live-153153909.html

From the SpaceRubble Command Bunker: We often hear that scientists have discovered such-and-such percent of the asteroids that could hit us. Yet rocks such as this one, the recent big one and the Chelyabinsk meteor hit prove that it's the ones you don't see coming that are the true danger to the Earth. And if they aren't seeing all of them, then we really don't have a number we can pin a percentage on, we only have a Wild-a** guess to go on, 'cause who in the heck knows everything that's out there in space!

1998 QE2 Raises Asteroid Awareness

Asteroid 1998 QE2 with its small moon. Radar picture.

Ever since the smacking Russia got earlier this year, the world has been paying more and more attention to the passing of NEOs (Near Earth Objects). Congressional committees have been receiving briefings from NASA. News outlets and space blogs have been covering every passing rock. And NASA has received the goal from the President of traveling to an asteroid, and maybe diverting it to Earth Orbit to study it (anyone else think that may be a bad idea?).

Today at a minute before 3 pm MDT, asteroid 1998 QE2 will pass about 3.6 million miles from the Earth. In space distance terms, that IS close, but in reality, no need for any panicking or worrying. But what makes QE2 so interesting is that radar imaging has discovered that the big hunk of rock has its own orbiting satellite, or moon. The little dude is about 600 meters across, or about 2000 feet.

It's been very cool to see more people paying attention to one of the actual space dangers we could see in our lifetimes. NASA's budget for detection and tracking of NEOs has gone from about $6 million to just about $20 million in 2012. WHile some scientists think that they may have discovered up to 98% of the objects already, this year's collision with the Chelyabinsk asteroid proves that it's the ones you DON'T see that are the trouble-makers.

Russia gets Smacked with Meteor Debris!

Remaining trail of meteor re-entering Earth's atmosphere (From RIA Novosti)

While most of us slept in America, on the other side of the world Russia came close to a tragedy. Unexpectedly hurtling out of the sky, a piece of the solar system weighing perhaps 10 tons came burning through the air and then exploded above the ground. Traffic cameras recorded the brighter-than-day flashes of the meteor as pieces came off and then a blinding burst of light as the meteor exploded and showered the area with fragments.

Closer view of smokey trail over Chelyabinsk. (from RIA Novosti)

RIA Novosti reports that children skating in the covered ice rinks grabbed their skates and ran from the building when the ceiling girders were shaking. Shockwaves from the supersonic booms and final explosion shook the ground, buildings, and burst windows. Russia is reporting that about 500 people were injured, many from shattering glass, and that about three dozen people were hospitalized. Initial reports said that the object exploded as close as 18 miles up, but when you see the video on TV it's obvious it came much closer to the surface before exploding.

Window shattered by sonic booms. (RIA Novosti)

It's also reported that fragments have been seen about 20 centimeters across. No doubt meteorite experts and hunters will be swarming the area with scientists and reporters as this remarkable event is investigated and documented. It will be very interesting to see what information we gain from this close call.

It was obvious to me right from the start of reporting that this was in NOW WAY related to the close pass of asteroid 2012 DA14 coming around noon Mountain Standard Time today. THAT asteroid is coming from a completely different direction, and neither it  nor pieces of it could possibly hit Russia. Yet we've already had some reporters and commenters asking if this is the same event.

And now a word from the Bunker...

Just What Does IT Take to wake up our civilization to the idea that we could actual experience an asteroid collision in our lifetime? Not long ago we have TWICE seen comets smack into Jupiter with incredible destructive effects that disrupted regions the SIZE OF THE EARTH! We know from geologic records that asteroids occasionally hit the Earth, and sometimes they have been BIG ones that destroyed some species and caused terrible climate change on the Earth. Forget the "Anthropogenic Global Warming" schtick. This kind of change will happen without warning, unless we spend the resources necessary to develop better space radar, targeting systems, and defenses to protect from small (and enormous) strikes. What if this rock had been a bit bigger? What if it had survived re-entry to actually smack into the ground, or more likely burst above a city close enough to kill people and cause city-wide damage? Not long ago a near-hit exploding in the atmosphere triggered nuclear attack alarms in Russia, and could have led to an accidental nuclear retaliation! (Of course, it wouldn't hurt that building a defensive system would be cool, put more humans in space, sorry, my humans-in-space bias coming through now) In this war against the real Comet Empire, score one for the enemy which hurtles giant rocks at us...

Here comes another one!

It's Duck and Cover time!

While most of us were sleeping, a chunk of rock about 20 meters across zipped by Earth on its way around the Solar System. The asteroid, designated 2012 TC4 was estimated to pass by our planet rather close, at about 1/4 the distance from the Earth to the Moon, or about 96,000 kilometers (about 59,000 miles).

Time-elapsed picture of 2012 TC4. Picture by Remanzacco Observatory.

For more comet and asteroid updates, check the blog of the Associazionie Friulana di Astronomia e Meteorologia: http://remanzacco.blogspot.it/2012/10/close-approach-of-asteroid-2012-tc4.html.

Notes from the Command Bunker: This NEO, or Near Earth Object, demonstrates the need we have for continued research of Earth-orbit-crossing-asteroids. It was only discovered on October 7! What if we had also discovered that it was on a collision course with a major city? Write to your member of the House of Representatives and urge them to demand that Congress and NASA allocate more funding for discovery and analysis of NEO's. 

Quadrantid Meteor Shower Tonight!

Yes, more rocks from space. Duck and Cover!

Tonight marks the appearance of the Quadrantid meteor shower. For some time, it was not known what the source was for this small but sometimes spectacular show of rocky debris burning up in the atmosphere. Eventually it was determined that the meteors might be remnants of a rocky fragment of "2003 EH-1," a rocky Near-Earth-Orbit object which in turn may be broken off from comet C/1490 Y1. The breakup may have occurred only 500 years ago, so the Quadrantids are a fairly new meteor shower.

The meteors will most likely appear coming from the constellation of Bootes, near Polaris, at about 2:20 am January 4 (Wednesday morning) EST. It's supposedly a short-event shower, which means tit may peak quickly at about 60-80 streaks per hour. This indicates the debris lies in a narrow band as the Earth passes through. Checking weather forecasts indicate hazy skies and very cold tonight.

Here at the SpaceRubble Command Bunker, work has started this week after the holiday vacation so it's doubtful I'll be willing to witness this shower. It may depend as well on the fickle weather here in Utah. Still, the relatively brief intensity of this shower is interesting and some fireballs have been seen in past showers, so it may be worth it. Working against this is also the freezing temperatures, so if you decide to brave the danger, dress warm and be prepared to duck!

Here Comes A BIG One!

Radar image of 2005 YU55.

It's time for watching the skies again, as a large asteroid passes pretty close to the Earth. Asteroid 2005 YU55 is expected to zoom past our planet at about 4:28 p.m. Mountain Time this afternoon. By Pretty Close I mean Pretty Close. Many close calls are actually several times the distance between the Earth and Moon, but this one will actually come closer to Earth than the Moon does!

Scientists have been closely tracking this asteroid with radar-imaging telescopes to precisely verify its trajectory and speed. We should be quite safe, as its orbit around the Sun has already been established. This gives researchers a chance to observe a close up asteroid and learn more about the dangers that could be posed to the Earth by these close misses.

You see, this isn't some little po-dunk bus-sized little rock, this one is as big as an aircraft carrier! Yes, it would survive going through the atmosphere and smack us good, but it looks like it will miss (phew!)

The last time a rock this size passed this close to the Earth (about 200,000 miles away) was in 1976. That pass by was undetected until scientists caught it going away (lucky us). The next approach of an object this big won't be until about 2028.

2005 YU55 will continue on past us and continue circling the Sun, passing by the Earth, Venus and Mars.

Down here in the Bunker we are glad that our scientists will get such a close opportunity to study and analyze the enemy's weapons. Should this have hit the Earth, the damage would have been quite appreciable, creating a crater larger than that found at Meteor Crater in Arizona. Celebrate the Near-Miss with a toast to the Near-Earth-Observations Program at JPL and NASA. The more we learn about these objects, the safer we can be in the War against the Comet Empire and their Allies, the Asteroids.

Playing Dodgeball in Space

Comet Elenin fading. Credit: Michael Mattiazzo

While we wait for the eventual demise of German satellite ROSSAT between the 20th and the 23rd, Earth managed to avoid destruction from the "Doomsday Comet." According to some conspiracy theorists, Comet Elenin was expected to hit the Earth on Sunday the 16th. Well, it must not have been too many conspiracy theorists, because not even I had heard of this one.

Apparently, some of the conspirators believed that the name of the comet, Elenin, was code for ELE, or Extinction Level Event. This ties into something called the Nibiru or Planet X collision. Believers fear that a large planetary body or comet not currently known by astronomers (but known to the ancient astronomers) will come barreling out of the dark and collide with the Earth, or make a near miss, enough to cause tremendous geological damage and threaten the human species.

In actuality, Comet Elenin was discovered in December 2010 by Russian amateur Leonid Elenin. Already very faint, it was estimated to be a long-period comet of only a diameter of about 3-4 kilometers. After a large solar storm in August, the comet was seen to be breaking up and growing much fainter. As it swept around the Sun on September, the break up was figured to be complete and only a cloud of cometary debris was noted. See the top photo for a reduction in brightness.

So, on last Sunday, the remaining debris swept pass the Earth. Only it wasn't even close. It passed by at about the same distance as from Earth to Venus. Here in the SpaceRubble Bunker we didn't even notice.

And yet, I should make note that on my drive home from SLC Saturday night, I witnessed a small fireball meteor descending westward apparently over the Oquirr mountains. Curious timing, that...

War against the Comet Empire Continues

That little white dot in the center is 2010 TK7.

It's been a week of good news down here in the SpaceRubble Bunker. Although Earth continues to be lightly bombarded by occasional meteorites, several advancements were recently made in identifying objects in the Solar System that give us greater understanding of how the asteroid belt exists and some more insight into potentially dangerous asteroids.

Firstly, though not as spectacular as some of the other news, astronomers discovered that asteroids 2010 TK7 is a Trojan Asteroid. This designation signifies that the rock, about 300 meters in diameter, maintains its position basically in the same orbit as our planet. This particular rock seems to maintain a stability pattern that occasionally brings it to within 24 million kilometers of our planet. It is currently at about 80 million kilometers distance, which indicates a complex trajectory. The stability comes from the named "Trojan Points" which are LaGrange gravity points L4 and L5. These asteroids have been suspected to exist, but so far 2010 Tk7 is the first to actually be detected.

Comet 103P/Hartley 2 picture and orbit.

Meanwhile, a little spacecraft named SOHO (SOlar and Heliospheric Observer) made great progress in measuring the amount of water and dust chunking off of comet 103P/Hartley 2. These studies will help astronomers understand better how a comet loses mass, as well as how a comet is composed and how it operates as it passes the warm regions of the inner solar system.

Vesta up close.

Also making BIG news this week was asteroid Vesta. NASA's space probe Dawn entered a temporary orbit around this giant space rock. Vesta and asteroid Ceres are the two largest member of the asteroids inhabiting the "belt" between Mars and Jupiter. Dawn will visit both asteroids, giving us unprecedented views and information about these bodies. Vesta is known as the brightest asteroid, visible from Earth, and is about 529 kilometers in diameter (roughly).

Important News!

This week marks the time of brightest appearance of asteroid Vesta. It's peak is expected about the 5th of August. Thanks to diagrams in Astronomy magazine, it will be very possible to view Vesta. Therefore, SpaceRubble Command will undertake an Observation Quest this weekend and attempt to spot Vesta with binoculars. This event will be covered (successfully or not!) in the blogs here at SpaceRubble. Look for coverage on or around the 6th of next week.

Asteroid 2011MD Buzzes By the Earth

Hunker Down in the Bunker!

Asteroid 2011 MD zipped by our planet this morning at about 7:30 am this morning, according to NASA. Definitely a Near Earth Asteroid encounter. Scientists have estimated the rock's size at about 5 to 20 meters in diameter, small enough that it would definitely have broken up and mostly burned up in our atmosphere if it had connected with the Earth. Might have made a nice episode on the Meteorite Men TV series. However, the asteroid passed by without mishap and continued on its way in space.

Orbital components.

From the Bunker: The war with the Interstellar Comet Empire continues. Safely protected in the bowels of our Command Bunker, I waited patiently for zero-hour to pass. Finally the time had come, and the danger was over. Once again, the inept fire controllers of the enemy had failed to send their meteor bombs on the correct trajectory. No doubt several technicians will be executed by the OverLord for their lack of skill. Meanwhile, most citizens of the Earth go about their morning business as usual, blissfully unaware of the mortal danger we face from outer space bombardments...

Stardust meets Comet Tempel-1

StarDust-Next, formerly Stardust.

This is a mission where we got our money's worth. The Stardust-Next mission successfully placed the Stardust explorer craft through a close fly-by of comet Tempel 1 lat last night. The craft closed to its closest approach of 112 miles. I stayed up a bit late to watch the excitement at JPL mission control as the events occurred. Well, excitement for space geeks, at least. And I am one for sure.

The Stardust spacecraft has been out there for about 12 years. Its original successful mission was to pass near comet Wild 2 back in 2004, collect a sample of the dust surrounding the comet, and return the sample to Earth. This mission is described at this link: http://stardustnext.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/behind_mission.html

One of the cool events of that mission was to watch the sample capsule land dangerously in the desert near Salt Lake City UT.

With the mission concluded, NASA/JPL planned to give the craft a second, new mission. Retasking this spacecraft would cost millions less than creating a new spacecraft and launching it. Engineers discovered they had just enough propellant and life left in Stardust to send it on an exciting mission to comet Tempel 1.

Tempel 1 had been visited before. In 2005, the space probe Deep Impact flew through the comet dust cloud and crashed an impactor into its surface, blasting out more dust particles which could be analyzed by instruments. With Stardust, explorers could revisit the comet and examine the surface details for changes that occurred during the 5 year gap. Stardust was renamed Stardust-Next, and sent off on its second voyage of exploration.

Artist image of the approach to Tempel 1. Yes, a bit dramatic. Who cares? Very nice.

Scientists are a fairly reserved group of people when it comes to showing their emotions, and mission controllers are even more cool under pressure. But you could sense the excitement growing as the spacecraft reached closest approach. There were a couple of tense moments waiting to see if the spacecraft would encounter any problems transmitting data but all went as planned. One exciting moment occurred when it was discovered that the spacecraft had taken a hit from a tiny piece of the comet, enough to need a slight adjustment in thruster control. Thankfully not damaging enough to end the mission.

The big question now is whether the Deep Impact crater will have been visible and sunlit during the photo-fly-by, and if the images will capture data showing change on the surface. The pictures are all being downloaded today, and soon we'll have some magnificent images to see. Until then, here's one of the first pictures from the approach. All images are NASA/JPL and associates.

1,530 miles and closing...

Progress in War Against Comets

Comet Jets in action.

Congratulations to our scientists who study comets and asteroids. JPL EPOXI mission controllers managed to fly the spacecraft to within 800 miles of Comet Hartley 2 to get some of the best pictures yet of a comet in action, The picture above shows streaming jets of dust and gas coming off of the surface. This time scientists were able to pinpoint jets to particular surface features, something we haven't been able to do before. All I could think of as I saw the pictures come in was, "SO that's what a comet does!" The comet tumbles as it orbits around the sun, the surface warms up and begins spewing jets of stuff out into space, forming a cloud of tiny debris which is blown away from the comet itself by the action of the solar wind. Much later, as Earth moves in its own orbit around the Sun, it encounters remnants of this debris release, and the particles end up entering our atmosphere at extreme speeds, creating our meteor showers.

Japanese scientists made a breakthrough with the Hayabusa satellite, which captured some of the debris left behind either by comets or shattered asteroids floating in the inner solar system.

Asteroid bits captured in gel.

The Hayabusa spacecraft spent two and a half months flying around the astroid Itokawa in 2005. It captured buts of the asteroid floating around it, and made a return course back to Earth. The sample capsule plunged into the Earth's atmosphere and was retrieved. Scientists are now studying the particles to learn the composition of the asteroid.

Celebrations here in the Bunker. Our close reconnaissance of Comet Hartley 2 gives us unprecedented views of the enemy in action. We can actually see in the photos how the rock bomber releases its micro weapons into an orbit which the enemy hopes intercepts the Earth. Such tactical information may be of great use to us as we plan counter-operations.

Kudos to the Japanese who have actually obtained unexploded asteroid ordinance for us to examine. Scientists will use these pieces to begin unravelling the mystery of these enemy weapons which could cause untold devastation if they should happen to smack into our planet.

It's advances like these that keep our hope alive that we may yet find a way to protect ourselves from deadly attacks from the Comet Empire.

Fly-by Success!

The nucleus of Hartley 2.

Say hi to the peanut. JPL mission control had chosen Hartley 2 for a rendezvous precisely because of some of the more unusual nature of this comet. Discoveries made by today's close pass by the EPOXI spacecraft did not disappoint. Scientists have huge amounts of data to analyze in trying to understand what makes this beastie tick.

The EPOXI spacecraft flew by the comet at about a distance of 435 miles. The data they have looked at so far hints that they will be able to relate future dust outbursts to exact physical features on the comet surface.

Comet Fly-by: EPOXI and Hartley 2

EPOXI, also known as Deep Impact. NASA art.

As I write this we are twenty-two minutes away from the closest approach that the EPOXI space explorer will make to comet Hartley 2. Expecting to approach to 435 miles from the comet nucleus, EPOXI will give us some great photos and data about this comet, which seems to have a "peanut-like" shape. Hartley 2 is a very prolific comet,pumping out tons of ice dust and debris as it orbits around the Sun.

The last instructions have been uploaded to the spacecraft and it is now on autopilot. Good luck to EPOXI and its team of explorers breathlessly waiting at Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

We are anxiously watching NASA-TV from the bunker. At last, we are striking back against the comet war overlords, making this reconnaissance of one of their evil bombers. Debris from this Hartley-2 bomber will remain as a minefield in space, just waiting for our planet or some luckless spacecraft to approach near enough to suffer a meteor strike. Hopefully this information will aid us in preparing defenses against the continual meteoric assault on our planet from the evil Comet Empire. ; )

Perseid Bombardment under way

Meteor streaks among the stars.

Recently the Earth has moved along in its orbit around the sun to encounter the orbital trail of debris left behind by comet Swift-Tuttle. As the small bits of rock and dust encounter the Earth's atmosphere, they heat up to an incandescent glow in a mere instant, leaving behind a trail of fading light for us to enjoy. Some particles are large enough to become "fireballs," a meteor that ends in a flash of explosion that is quite noticeable. These meteors in last night's showers are called the Perseids because they seem to come from the same point in the sky (the radiant), located in the constellation of Perseus.

We've actually been entering the area of the comet trail since about late July. The peak of the encounter would have been last night, so I managed to wake up at about 12:30 am and go outside for a gander. For the best view, you really need to get away from the city lights which cause the sky to brighten enough so that the faintest meteors will not be seen. I was a bit lazy, so I just set up a lawn chair on the driveway, adjusted it's position so I could face the constellations of Cassiopeia and Perseus, and moved it enough so a nearby tree would block the very annoying bright streetlight half a block away. To the east, Mt. Timpanogos blocked the horizon up to about 30 degrees. I could see a couple of cars or atv's working their way up the hillsides to reach a better viewing position, I supposed. It wouldn't help them, that position was still way too close to the city lights.

I could hear people's muffled voices eminating from several nearby backyards as my neighbors stayed out for the show as well. Every now and then cars would zoom up the streets. Evidently a lot of my neighbors don't come home till after midnight! It also got a bit chilly during my stay outdoors, as the drop from our daytime high to a nighttime low made it feel colder than it was. Fortunately, there were no annoying clouds of mosquitos or other disturbing bugs.

As time passed, I could easily notice the rotation of the Earth as the constellations slowly rose from the horizon into the eastern sky. Perseus was hidden at first by the top of Timpanogos, but gradually the top half rose above the mountain into a prominent position.

I didn't have to wait long. Within a couple minutes the first meteor flashed overhead as if on it's way to California. Because I couldn't see the dimmer meteors, it meant the ones I would see would be fairly bright (although some were dimmer to me, about half I think). After five minutes a very bright meteor streaked overhead and I knew the show had already started! While I kept count and checked my watch, I calculated my personal observation rate was about 20-30 per hour. Not bad for a city-light-polluted location. I noticed streaks in many different areas: to the north, to the southeast, from the north east, and overhead. Almost all seemed to have come from the same point in the sky. From my view it looked more as if they were radiating from the eastward edge of Cassiopeia, rather than Perseus.

I was very tired however, and knew I wouldn't stay up long. I called it quits after a medium-bright flash sighting about 1:30 am. I would have seen more meteors if I hadn't been distracted. You see, I also had my astronomy binoculars with me, and I couldn't help but also take the opportunity to view Jupiter with a couple of Moons showing, the Andromeda galaxy, the Double Cluster in Perseus, and various other star clusters and stars. What I found surprising was the lack of satellites. Normally I can spot traveling satellites about once every twenty minutes. Then I realized that at that time, we were well into the shadow of the Earth, and there would be no reflecting sunlight to reveal their locations!

Overall a very enjoyable experience and I'll plan better for the next one.

The bombardment of projectiles was spectacular but the Bunker remained safe. The enemy bomber Swift-Tuttle has laid these particulate mines for us to run into, but they are so small they can't penetrate our atmospheric shields. Oh, the occasional large one may smite the Earth, but no reports of damage or casualties have been heard. The danger is not over yet, though- we won't pass the minefield until about August 24th.

Comet War: NASA tests new weapon

Artist view of LCROSS stage separation

At 5:30 am MDT, Terran Space Forces tested a new weapon in the Interplanetary War against the evil Comet Realm. The spent Centaur stage of the LCROSS system impacted into a crater near the Moon's south pole, followed a few minutes later by the crash of the observation probe that accompanied it. NASA telescopes and observers around the world are scanning the area to analyze the debris cloud. Of course, most of us slept through it, unaware of the bold stroke mankind prepares in its effort to thwart the enemy's plans.

Speculation abounds over the mission of the LCROSS system.

A leading critic of the administration has panned the effort as a mega-dollar boondoggle. "We already know how to smash things. Our military should at least have tried this years before against one of the enemy's impactors. All we've proven is we know we can hit the side of a barn."

Target: Cabeus Crater

Some speculate, however, that this was more than a test. NASA has speculated for some time that there could be deposits of water ice located at the moon's poles were there are permanent crater shadows. So far, only Dr. Bernhard of the Asteroid War Institute has ever put forth the idea that the enemy had actually established a hidden outpost on the Moon. If true, this mission would be Earth's fist counterattack against an enemy that has been at war with Earth since before recorded history.

Apollo 14 third stage impact site

The development of this mission stems from the accidental bounty of information gathered from the Apollo program. After seismic sensors were placed by the astronauts of Apollo 12, the third stage of Apollo 14 crashed into a desolate empty plain on the Moon's surface. Sensor data led NASA engineers to believe that a fast moving empty stage could cause sever devastation to a region around the impact site, even without an explosive warhead.

Of course, there are still doubters out there. This reporter has even heard a relatively unknown theory that this was a mere science experiment designed to look for traces of water in the resultant debris cloud. Here at the Space Rubble Command Bunker, we'll place that one right with the Flat Moon believers.

; )