Hi-Fi Map of Moon Created With Help Of Orbiters

NASA launched the orbiters last year

A pair of NASA orbiters has given scientists their highest-fidelity look at the moon, a leap that could help explain the evolution of the solar system's rocky planets, including Earth.

Scientists announced the first results Wednesday from the $496-million GRAIL mission, the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, which consists of two washing-machine-size spacecraft that operate in tandem. GRAIL lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in September 2011, and the spacecraft are now circling the moon, studying its structure, surface and composition.