posted December 22, 2004 07:31 PM               

"Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera" (LROC) - principal investigator Dr. Mark Robinson, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. LROC will acquire targeted images of the lunar surface capable of resolving small-scale features that could be landing site hazards, as well as wide-angle images at multiple wavelengths of the lunar poles to document changing illumination conditions and potential resources.

posted December 23, 2004 07:48 AM               

We will definitely be able to spot the LM descent stages and Rovers

posted January 10, 2008 02:08 PM               

NASA's Next Moon Mission Spacecraft Undergoing Critical Tests

NASA's next mission to Earth's closest astronomical body is in the midst of integration and testing at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, known as LRO, will spend at least a year mapping the surface of the moon. Data from the orbiter will help NASA select safe landing sites for astronauts, identify lunar resources and study how the moon's environment will affect humans.

Engineers at Goddard are building the orbiter and rigorously testing spacecraft components to ready them for the harsh environment of space. After a component or entire subsystem is qualified, it is integrated into the LRO spacecraft. The core suite of avionics for the orbiter is assembled and undergoing system tests.

"This is a major milestone for the mission," said Craig Tooley, LRO project manager at Goddard. "Our team has been working nearly around the clock to get us to this point. Reaching this milestone keeps us on the path to sending LRO to the moon later this year."

Various components of the avionics and mechanical subsystem are in the process of going through their qualification program. Six instruments and one technology demonstration aboard the spacecraft will provide important data to enable a safe and productive human return to the moon. The six instruments are scheduled to arrive at Goddard in the coming months for integration.

The spacecraft will ship to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., in August in preparation for launch. The orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite will launch aboard an Atlas V rocket in late 2008. The trip to the moon will take approximately four days. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter initially will enter an elliptical orbit, also called the commissioning orbit. Once moved into its final orbit, a circular polar orbit approximately 31 miles above the moon, the spacecraft's instruments will map the lunar surface.

posted February 25, 2008 02:20 PM               

NASA taps astronomy community to help search for lunar water

Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) is scheduled to launch with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, known as LRO, aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in late 2008. After launch, the LCROSS shepherding spacecraft and the Atlas V's Centaur upper stage rocket will fly by the moon and enter an elongated Earth orbit to position themselves for a rapid descent into a permanently shadowed crater near the moon's south pole.

On final approach, the instrument-laden spacecraft and the upper stage will separate. They will hit the lunar surface about four minutes apart. The spacecraft will fly through the Centaur debris plume and collect data before its own impact. The LCROSS impacts are expected to be visible from Earth using 10-to-12 inch and larger telescopes.

posted May 01, 2008 10:05 PM               

Send Your Name to the Moon With New Lunar Mission

NASA invites people of all ages to join the lunar exploration journey with an opportunity to send their names to the moon aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, spacecraft.

The Send Your Name to the Moon Web site enables everyone to participate in the lunar adventure and place their names in orbit around the moon for years to come. Participants can submit their information at this website, print a certificate and have their name entered into a database. The database will be placed on a microchip that will be integrated onto the spacecraft. The deadline for submitting names is June 27, 2008.

"Everyone who sends their name to the moon, like I'm doing, becomes part of the next wave of lunar explorers," said Cathy Peddie, deputy project manager for LRO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The LRO mission is the first step in NASA's plans to return humans to the moon by 2020, and your name can reach there first. How cool is that?"

The orbiter, comprised of six instruments and one technology demonstration, will provide the most comprehensive data set ever returned from the moon. The mission will focus on the selection of safe landing sites and identification of lunar resources. It also will study how the lunar radiation environment could affect humans.

LRO will also create a comprehensive atlas of the moon's features and resources that will be needed as NASA designs and builds a planned lunar outpost. The mission will support future human exploration while providing a foundation for upcoming science missions. LRO is scheduled for launch in late 2008.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is being built at Goddard. The mission also will be managed at the center for NASA's Explorations Systems Mission Directorate in Washington.

Send Your Name to the Moon is a collaborative effort among NASA, the Planetary Society in Pasadena, Calif., and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

posted June 24, 2008 11:27 PM               

Moon-Bound NASA Spacecraft Passes Major Preflight Tests

Engineering teams are conducting final checkouts of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, known as LCROSS, that will take a significant step forward in the search for water on the moon.

The mission's main objective is to confirm the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater near a lunar polar region. A major milestone, thermal vacuum testing of the LCROSS spacecraft, was completed June 5 at the Northrop Grumman facility in Redondo Beach, Calif.

To simulate the harsh conditions of space, technicians subjected the spacecraft to 13.5 days of heating and cooling cycles during which temperatures reached as high as 230 degrees Fahrenheit and as low as minus 40 degrees. Previous testing for the LCROSS spacecraft included acoustic vibration tests. Those tests simulated launch conditions and checked mating of connection points to the Atlas V rocket's Centaur upper stage and the adapter ring for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, known as LRO.

The satellite currently is undergoing final checkout tests. After all tests are complete, the LCROSS spacecraft will be prepared for delivery to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch processing and integration onto the Atlas V as a secondary payload to LRO. Both spacecraft are scheduled to launch from Kennedy in late 2008.

"The spacecraft steadily has taken shape since Ames delivered the science payload in January," said Daniel Andrews, LCROSS project manager at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "It is a testament to the hard work, perseverance and expertise of the NASA and Northrop Grumman teams that the spacecraft has completed these critical tests ahead of schedule."

After launch, the LCROSS spacecraft and the Atlas V's Centaur upper stage rocket will execute a fly-by of the moon and enter into an elongated Earth orbit to position the satellite for impact on a lunar pole. On final approach, the spacecraft and the Centaur will separate. The Centaur will strike the surface of the moon, creating a debris plume that will rise above the surface. Four minutes later, LCROSS will fly through the debris plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before impacting the lunar surface and creating a second debris plume. Scientists will observe both impacts from Earth to gather additional information.

LCROSS is a fast-paced, low-cost mission that is leveraging existing NASA systems, commercial-off-the-shelf components and the spacecraft design and development expertise of integration partner Northrop Grumman Space Technologies. The LCROSS and LRO missions are components of the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. The program manages pathfinding robotic missions to the moon for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

posted June 27, 2008 01:06 PM               

One Million Names to the Moon

One million and counting!

Did you say one million? That’s how many names have been submitted to blast off on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, spacecraft.

Since May 1, NASA has invited the public to join the excitement of the first mission in NASA's exploration program to return humans to the moon by 2020. LRO, which is scheduled to launch later this year, will map the lunar surface in extraordinary detail and help future human missions to the moon locate safe landing sites and vital resources on the moon.

There is still time to be part of the adventure and send your name on a mission to the moon.

Participants can submit their names at the LRO web site and print a certificate. The names will be placed on a microchip that will be installed on the LRO spacecraft and travel to the moon. The deadline for submitting names is June 27, 2008.

This is an unprecedented number of people to take part in a send your name campaign. People from all over the world are telling NASA how excited they are to be part of the nation's journey back to the moon. Here are some of the more than 700 comments NASA received:

"We will all feel the journey to the moon when our names are there. A wonderful mission."

"I can't fly to the moon, so am thrilled my name will be there forever!"

"When I was young I always watched the moon wishing that I could go there. I never did, but my name could be there. That's better than nothing."

You may ask how LRO reached one million people so quickly. Stephanie Stockman, LRO Education and Public Outreach lead has been exploring ideas for NASA to reach as many people as possible.

“The outreach team has been using social media and web 2.0 for the past year, and when it was time to send your name to the moon, I promoted it on my personal blog and Twitter account,” Stockman said. “Send your name also was set up as group on Facebook, and video was posted on YouTube.

"It was on blogs all over the world. I am amazed that we can reach thousands of people in days and millions of people in weeks,” she added.

Humans continue to be fascinated by the planetary body closest to home on Earth. This sentiment is summed up in the words of one commenter, "I want to join a lunar exploration journey with this opportunity."

posted July 01, 2008 10:35 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
Today is the last day to send your name to the Moon with LRO...

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These photographs, taken today, show Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter laying on its side as it undergoes a comprehensive performance test, its first "total checkout" at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Click on the photos to enlarge.

Lastly, a photo of the reverse side of LRO's solar panel.

posted July 21, 2008 02:21 PM               

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is touted as the first mission in that vision, kicking off a series of robotic treks to the Moon starting no later than 2008, as called for in the Bush push.

But the word here is that LRO is being delayed until February 2009 - kind of reaching its own escape velocity in terms of calendar date and sticking to the vision script of action items.