Probe Returns First Pictures of the Moon

July 04, 2009

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has returned its first images of the moon. 

NASA Heads Back to Moon

June 18, 2009

NASA launched its debut mission in a new program aimed at returning astronauts to the moon.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter blasted off atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Thursday afternoon.

LRO will take four days to reach the moon, where it is expected to spend a year taking high-resolution images of 50 potential landing sites. NASA is preparing for a 2020 landing. 

Meanwhile, a small second satellite known as LCROSS was put into a long looping orbit around Earth to wait out some initial results from LRO's passes over the moon's southern pole. 

LCROSS remains attached to the Atlas rocket's upper-stage motor, which will become a 2,300-pound dead weight to smash into a lunar crater. Scientists want to see if there's any water ice inside. LCROSS will be flying about four minutes behind the Centaur upper stage to the material ejected out of the crater in the crash for signs of water vapor, ice and other materials. Telescopes on Earth and in space will join the observations as well. 

The impact is scheduled for Oct. 9.

 

Moon Probe Delay, Part 2

July 28, 2008

Got a few more details -- and a lovely spin -- from NASA about the delay of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter launch. George Diller, a long-time happy soul who covers unmanned launches for the Kennedy Space Center press office says International Launch Services, (the Lockheed-Boeing venture that's handling the launch) asked NASA if it would mind swapping launch slots with another customer. (Diller didn't mention who, but it's the aforementioned DoD.)

With a deft hand for making lemonade, Diller explains that slipping LRO's launch three months is really a good thing because 1) there are more opportunities for launching in February than during the previously reserved launch window (18 vs 8); and 2) there's more time to deal with any spacecraft problems that may come up during thermal vacuum testing, which is about to get under way at Goddard Space Flight Center.

Not that there's been any problems, he adds, but just in case.

About the only down-side Diller could see was that the scientists and engineers working on LRO's piggyback payload, LCROSS, which is supposed to crash down into a darkened crater so folks can see if anything interesting (i.e. WATER) pops out during the impact, will have to choose a new target.

"The geometry between Earth, the moon and the sun will be different in February," Diller said. The team needs good lighting, good radio links to Earth AND a nice shadowed crater in the polar regions of the moon.

No word on how much more it'll cost to keep the team going an extra few months, but heck, that's probably downright un-American to even ask.

Fly Me to the Moon -- Next Year

NASA’s kick-off mission under Apollo 2.0 will be off to a late start, Aviation Week is reporting. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a pole-circling probe that will lay the groundwork for human landings on the moon, apparently is grounded until Feb. 27, 2009. The spacecraft had been targeted for launch in November.

Two years ago, NASA awarded a $136-million contract to Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services to put LRO into lunar orbit for a year-long mapping mission. The company plans to use one of its heavy-lift Atlas 5 boosters.

AvWk, however, says LRO’s rocket and launch slot will be used instead for a classified military mission.

No enlightenment about which came from: chicken or egg. Since LRO and sidekick impactor payload LCROSS seems have been meeting all their milestones, I’m betting egg -- military wants the rocket.

Caption: More detailed maps of the moon's south pole, imaged here by the Clementine spacecraft, will have to wait until '09.

Send Your Name to the Moon

June 27, 2008

I’m a (recovering) deadline junkie. It’s a product of 25 years of news writing. So even when I don’t have to write on deadline, it’s the fallback position, the environment I’m most accustomed to.

All that is by way of explanation -- and apology -- for giving you exactly one day’s notice to send your name to the moon.

It’s part of an educational outreach program NASA is running as it prepares to send off a new orbiter to map the moon’s surface. A microchip etched with people’s names -- NASA's goal is 1 million -- will be installed on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is scheduled for launch later this year.

LRO is a predecessor mission to NASA’s return to the moon with astronauts. It is designed to map the lunar surface so the space agency can decide where to land its crews and where to set up a base. The last time anyone set foot on the moon was in 1972. I’m not saying you’ll win a cosmic lottery or something, but it’s kind of cool to know that your name will be up there.