Probes "twins", code-named GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory), scheduled for launch on September 8 spaceport at Cape Canaveral. Within 82 days the two satellites will fly to each other at an altitude of 55 kilometers in a polar orbit around the moon. Measuring the distance between vehicles, which will evolve as they pass through the lunar gravitational anomalies, scientists built the satellite gravity map and get an idea about the internal structure of the moon. "Everything is ready for launch on September 8, starting at the opening of" windows "- said the director of NASA's division planetologicheskogo Jim Green (Jim Green) at a press conference that was broadcast live on NASA website. The launch window for the GRAIL will be closed on 8 September and 19 October. At that time, NASA will have two opportunities each day for the start of about a second between them is about 39 minutes. September 8 launch could take place at 8.37 or 9.16 on the east coast time (16.37 and 17.16 GMT). Project Manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), David Lehman (David Lehman) announced that the devices were installed on the second stage Delta II rocket on schedule, but the nose cone had to install a few days earlier because of fears that the probes could damage the hurricane "Irene" . After starting the apparatus undock from the second stage of the rocket at a time with an interval of eight minutes. In fact, to get to the moon, probes need a little more than three months, during which they will perform 33 maneuvers – it is necessary to save fuel. Scientific director of the mission, Maria Zuber (Maria Zuber) noted that since the beginning of the space age in 1959, Moon became the object of study for 109 missions. "I would like us to find using GRAIL something amazing, something that would cause us to revise our understanding of the Moon" – said Zuber.
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