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British scientists are hard at work on a new missile.

Weapons come and weapons go, most with little or no fanfare, so the question is what makes this missile special? Maybe it’s the fact that unlike all of its brothers and sisters, its target isn’t a building or a piece of military technology — this missile’s target is the Moon.


Moon Missiles

Called the Penetrator, scientists hope to fire four of these space-faring projectiles into the Moon from spacecraft in close orbit to the lunar surface. Once deployed, they are designed to bury themselves deep into the Moon’s crust.

These projectiles aren’t loaded with explosives, instead they are packed full of scientific equipment. The thought is that by burying these probes deep under the Moon’s surface, scientists will be able to uncover hereto unknown secrets about the Moon’s composition.

Initial tests of this technology have been successful, the Penetrator’s instruments survived striking a simulated lunar surface at over 700 miles per hour. The test have been so successful, in fact, that space agencies are considering using Penetrator style projectiles in future missions to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

If everything goes as planned, Penetrator will play a major role in Britain’s first mission to the Moon.

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