Jump to content

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 85.4.224.116 (talk) at 19:21, 21 June 2009 (→‎Onboard instruments). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Infobox Spacecraft

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a robotic spacecraft launched by the United States, currently on its way to the Moon.[1] The unmanned launch of the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program occurred on June 18, 2009, the first United States mission to the moon in over ten years.[2][3][4][5] LRO is the first mission of the United States's Vision for Space Exploration program. To successfully attain the goals of "The Vision", including human exploration of the Moon, LRO will orbit the Moon, survey lunar resources, and identify possible landing sites. The orbiting probe will be able to provide a 3-D map of the moon's surface [4] and will provide some of the first images of leftover Apollo equipment on the moon.[6]

The LRO Atlas V launch vehicle also carries the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), which is designed to detect water liberated when the launch vehicle's spent upper stage strikes a lunar crater. Together, LCROSS and LRO form the vanguard of the NASA Lunar Precursor Robotic Program's return to the Moon.[7]

Mission

File:NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite leave the launch pad.jpg
The LRO and LCROSS leave the launch pad.
The Atlas V-Centaur rocket carrying the LRO and LCROSS just after take off.

Launch was originally planned for October 2008. A later launch date scheduled for June 17, 2009 was delayed by one day to allow the Space Shuttle Endeavour a chance to lift off following a hydrogen fuel leak that canceled an earlier planned shuttle launch.

Developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, LRO is a large and sophisticated spacecraft planned to fly in a lunar polar orbit for a nominal mission of one Earth year. An optional extended phase of the mission (up to five years) could provide a communications relay for other future ground lunar missions, such as a moon lander or rover.

A preliminary design review was completed in February 2006 and the critical design review was completed in November 2006.[8] LRO shipped from Goddard Space Flight Center to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 11 February 2009.[9]

Areas of investigation will include:[10]

  • Selenodetic global topography.
  • Characterization of deep space radiation in lunar orbit.
  • The lunar polar regions, including possible water ice deposits and the lighting environment. The lunar polar regions experience temperatures of -223oC (-370oF) and may be able to hold water ice.[11]
  • High-resolution mapping (max 0.5 m) to assist in the selection and characterization of future landing sites "identify the ups and downs on the moon, but also the slopes that are so critical to being able to land safely," said Mike Wargo, chief lunar scientist for NASA's exploration division.[12]

In addition, LRO will provide some of the first images of leftover Apollo equipment on the moon.[6] The US$583 million space mission comes equipped with a $504 million state of the art Template:Lb to kg LRO space probe and a $79 million LCROSS satellite.[13]

Onboard instruments

Onboard instruments

The orbiter carries a complement of six instruments and one technology demonstration:

  • CRaTER—The primary goal of the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation is to characterize the global lunar radiation environment and its biological impacts.[14]
  • DLRE—The Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment will measure lunar surface thermal emission to provide essential information for future surface operations and exploration.[15]
  • LAMP—The Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project will peer into permanently shadowed craters in search of water ice, seeing by the ultraviolet light from stars and the interplanetary medium.[16]
  • LEND—The Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector will provide measurements, create maps, and detect possible near-surface water ice deposits.[17]
  • LOLA—The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter investigation will provide a precise global lunar topographic model and geodetic grid.
  • LROC—The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera has been designed to address the measurement requirements of landing site certification and polar illumination.[18] LROC comprises a pair of narrow-angle cameras (NAC) and a single wide-angle camera (WAC). LROC will fly several times over the historic Apollo lunar landing sites; with the camera's high resolution, the lunar rovers and Lunar Module descent stages and their respective shadows will be clearly visible. It is expected that this photography will boost public acknowledgement of the validity of the landings, and further discredit Apollo conspiracy theories (though conspiracy believers will inevitably consider such photographs to be government-created fakes).[19]
  • Mini-RF—The Miniature Radio Frequency radar will demonstrate new lightweight SAR and communications technologies and locate potential water-ice.[20]

LRO's high-resolution mapping will show some of the larger pieces of equipment previously left on the Moon, and will return approximately 70–100 TB of image data.

The LRO will overfly everything that has ever landed on the Moon at 31 miles (50 km) altitude. It is hoped that new imagery of the Apollo 11 landing site will be taken in time for the 40th anniversary of the first human Moon landing.[citation needed]

Name to the Moon

Prior to the LRO's launch, NASA gave members of the public the opportunity to have their names placed in a microchip on the LRO. The deadline for this opportunity was July 31, 2008.[21] About 1.6 million names were submitted.[22]

LCROSS

LCROSS

Piggy-backing on the launch of LRO was the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), which is designed to watch as the launch vehicle's spent Template:Lb to kg Centaur motor upper stage strikes a permanently shadowed region near the south pole of the Moon.[12][23] NASA expects the impact velocity will be over 9,000 km/h (5,600 mph). The ejecta plume will be in the order of 350 tons (317 metric tons) and rise Template:Mi to km from the surface.[24][25] It is hoped that spectral analysis of the resulting impact plume will help to confirm preliminary findings by the Clementine and Lunar Prospector missions which hinted that there may be water ice in the permanently shadowed regions. LCROSS will fly through the debris plume, and will then crash itself into a different part of the crater approximately four minutes after the Centaur impact.

The LCROSS instrument payload, provided by NASA Ames Research Center, includes cameras working at visible, near infrared, and mid infrared wavelengths, as well as visible light and near infrared spectrometers, a photometer, and a data handling unit.[26] Mission scientists estimate that the Centaur impact plume may be visible through amateur-class telescopes with apertures as small as 10 to 12 inches.[27] Both impacts will also be monitored by Earth-based observatories and possibly by other orbital assets. The actual journey to the moon will take an estimated four days.[12]

The addition of the LCROSS payload came about after NASA changed LRO to a larger rocket from the Delta II. It was chosen from 19 other proposals.[28] LCROSS is being managed by NASA's Ames Research Center and was built by Northrop Grumman. The LCROSS preliminary design review was completed on 8 September 2006. The LCROSS mission passed its Mission Confirmation Review on 2 February 2007[29] and its Critical Design Review on 22 February 2007.[30] After assembly and testing at Ames, the instrument payload, provided by Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation,[31] was shipped to Northrop Grumman on 14 January 2008 for integration with the spacecraft.[32] LCROSS passed its review on February 12, 2009.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Launch". lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
  2. ^ "Mission design and operation considerations for NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter" (PDF). lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
  3. ^ "Lunar Spacecraft Launch to Moon!". Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter NASA's First step back to the moon. NASA. June 18, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  4. ^ a b Dunn, Marcia (June 18, 2009). "NASA launches unmanned moon shot, first in decade". Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  5. ^ http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/launch.html
  6. ^ a b "Abandoned Spaceships". Science@NASA. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |publishdate= ignored (help)
  7. ^ "Lunar Precursor Robotic Program". NASA. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
  8. ^ "Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Successfully Completes Critical Design Review". 2006-12-07. Retrieved 2007-02-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Spacecraft Ships South In Preparation For Launch". NASA. 2009-02-11. Retrieved 2009-02-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ Savage, Donald (2004-12-22). "NASA Selects Investigations for Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter". NASA News. 04-407. Retrieved 2006-05-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "JPL Instrument Set for NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. SpaceRef.com. June 18, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  12. ^ a b c Klotz, Irene (June 18, 2009). "NASA launches probes to scout the moon". National Post. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  13. ^ Harwood, William (June 18, 2009). "Atlas 5 rocket launches NASA moon mission". Cnet. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  14. ^ "Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation". Boston University. Retrieved 2008-07-15. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ "Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment". UCLA. Retrieved 2008-07-15. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ "The Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project : Seeing in the Dark". Southwest Research Institute. Retrieved 2008-07-15. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ "Russian Made Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector". Russian Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2008-07-15. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ "The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera". Arizona State University. Retrieved 2008-07-15. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ "Abandoned Spaceships". NASA. Retrieved 2008-07-15. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ Yan (June 19, 2009). "Backgrounder: Introduction to LRO's instruments". Xinhua. China view. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  21. ^ "Send your name to the Moon!". NASA. Retrieved 2008-07-15. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ "1.6 Million Names to the Moon". NASA. Retrieved 2009-06-18. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. ^ "Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite – LCROSS". NASA.
  24. ^ Dunn, Marcia (June 18, 2009). "NASA launches unmanned moon probe First such mission in a decade will use robotic probes to hunt for hidden ice". Associated Press. MSNBC. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  25. ^ "A Flash of Insight: LCROSS Mission Update". NASA. 2008-08-11.
  26. ^ "LCROSS Instrument Systems". NASA. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
  27. ^ "LCROSS Observation Campaign". NASA.
  28. ^ Tariq Malik (2006-04-10). "NASA Adds Moon Crashing Probes to LRO Mission". Space.com. Retrieved 2006-04-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. ^ "NASA Moon-Impactor Mission Passes Major Review". www.nasa.gov. 2007-02-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  30. ^ "Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite Passes Critical Design Review". www.moondaily.com. 2007-03-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  31. ^ "Ecliptic provides key elements of LCROSS payload". www.spaceflightnow.com. 2008-03-03.
  32. ^ Jonas Dino. "NASA's Quest to Find Water on the Moon Moves Closer to Launch". NASA=2008-01-14. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lunar_Reconnaissance_Orbiter&oldid=297775712"