Information technology and science: NASA published the view from the far side of the Moon

NASA has published a video of the far side of the Moon made by GRAIL twin spacecraft, informs the official site of the agency.

The video features the panorama of the far side of the Moon from the north to south pole. The complicated relief of the Earth satellite is well discerned (it is known that the geology of the far side of the Moon is considerably different from the one of the visible side). Besides, in the lower third of the disc one can see a border of the Eastern Sea which is situated on the visible side. Its diameter equals to 327 km.

The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory twin spacecraft was launched September 9, 2011. The crafts named GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B reached the lunar orbit with 24-hour difference, on January 1 and January 2, 2012 respectively. Currently, they are moving at the altitude of about 50 km above the surface of the satellite.

The objective of the crafts is to draw a precise gravitation map of the Earth satellite. Scientists hope that the data accumulated by the crafts will enable them to answer many questions related to the process of the satellite formation, as well as its inner structure. The scholars are particularly interested by the structure of the lunar core.