Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory
GRAIL (Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory) was a completed NASA Discovery Program mission launched on 10 September 2011. Twin spacecraft Ebb and Flow flew in tandem around the Moon, measuring changes in their separation to produce the highest-resolution gravity map of a celestial body and reveal the Moon’s internal structure, composition, evolution, and impact-generated mascons. Both spacecraft intentionally impacted the Moon on 17 December 2012 after their primary and extended science missions.
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Identity
- Aliases
- GRAILGravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory MissionEbb and Flow
- Name
- Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory
- Status
- completed
Details
- Astronauts
- -
- Description
- GRAIL (Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory) was a completed NASA Discovery Program mission launched on 10 September 2011. Twin spacecraft Ebb and Flow flew in tandem around the Moon, measuring changes in their separation to produce the highest-resolution gravity map of a celestial body and reveal the Moon’s internal structure, composition, evolution, and impact-generated mascons. Both spacecraft intentionally impacted the Moon on 17 December 2012 after their primary and extended science missions.
- Destination
- Twin lunar orbits for high-resolution gravity-field mapping of the Moon, followed by deliberate impacts
- End Date
- 2012-12-17
- Outcome
- Both Ebb and Flow intentionally impacted the Moon on 17 December 2012 after completing primary and extended science operations.
- Programs
- Start Date
- 2011-09-10
- Vehicle Families
- -
Links
- Official Url
- https://science.nasa.gov/mission/grail/
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- August 14, 2026 at 14:05:58 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 23, 2026 at 06:35:35 UTC
- Image
- Download
Other
- Affiliations
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles
- -