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Lunar Extreme Program Syllabus - Weeks 11-16

  • Weeks 13-14: Impacts!


    Learning Goals:

    Students will be able to:
    • Demonstrate and describe the impact cratering process and how it has affected the surface of the Moon.
    • Describe the LCROSS mission and results.
    • Describe why/how DREAM is planning to use the LCROSS impact as the initial conditions for its modeling efforts leading up to the Lunar Extreme Workshop in November 2012.


    Suggested Reading/Resources:

    ● Traces of Catastrophe, Chapters 1-3: View Here
    ● Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission home page: View here and resultsView Here

    Optional reading/resources that may be of interest:

    • Gault (1973): View Here
    • Cintala (1992): View Here
    • NASA Meteoroid Environment Office: View Here
    • Near Earth Object Program: View Here
    • Coronal Mass Ejections: View Here


    Activity and discussion (to be done by students at home or in groups and then discussed at Sept. 24 meeting):

    • Investigating terrestrial impact effects using the “Impact: Earth!” program: View Here
    ● Also read associated journal article that explains the assumptions that go into the program: View Here
    ● Discuss the limitations to applying this program to the Moon.
    • What would an LCROSS-sized impact do to the Earth? How would San Jose be affected if a similar impact occurred in Los Angeles or San Francisco? What if the LCROSS impact was scaled up by 2-3 orders of magnitude?

Syllabus Weeks

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