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NASA spacecraft named 'Ebb' and 'Flow' by Montana 4th graders
Artist concept of GRAIL mission. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft around the moon to measure its gravity field.
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NASA/JPL
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Two NASA spacecraft that entered the moon’s orbit earlier this month now have names, thanks to a classroom of Montana fourth graders.
They’re called Ebb and Flow. The names were chosen out of 11,000 student essay entries nationwide, said GRAIL mission investigator Maria Zuber.
“We were so busy in the design and getting these two spacecraft launched on time that when we gave them names, we gave them names of A and B,” Zuber said.
Cal Tech’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena manages the GRAIL Mission for NASA. The twin spacecraft Ebb and Flow have cameras attached. Zuber says they hope to start snapping photos of the moon this March to map its surface.
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