Lunar Precursor Robotic Program

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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

LRO Spacecraft, Artist Rendering
Organization NASA
Mission type Orbiter
Satellite of The Moon
Orbits 30 - 70 km polar orbit
Launch date No earlier than November 24, 2008 [1]
Launch vehicle Atlas V 401 [1][2]
Mission duration 1 year
NSSDC ID LUNARRO
Webpage Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

The Lunar Precursor Robotic Program (LPRP) is a program of robotic spacecraft missions which NASA will use to prepare for future human spaceflight missions to the Moon.[3] Two LPRP missions, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), are scheduled to launch on November 24, 2008.

LRO will orbit the Moon for one year, gathering high resolution images of the lunar surface that will allow the creation of detailed maps. LCROSS, a 2,000 kg vehicle, will explore a permanently shadowed region of a lunar pole when its spent casing crash-lands in a dark crater by observing the composition of the ejecta with a "shepherding spacecraft".

Contents

[edit] Program history

Initially, the LPRP program was a part of the Science Mission Directorate of NASA (SMD) and was called the Robotic Lunar Exploration Program (RLEP). Management of the RLEP program was assigned to Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in February, 2004. At that time, the Program's goal was to "...initiate a series of robotic missions to the Moon to prepare for and support future human exploration activities."[4] In 2005, responsibility for RLEP was moved to NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) and management assigned to the Ames Research Center (ARC). In 2006, the program was renamed to the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program and management responsibility re-assigned to the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

[edit] LRO

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is the first mission of the LPRP program. Management of LRO was assigned to Goddard Space Flight Center in 2004. LRO's goals include finding safe landing sites for human visits to the Moon, identifying lunar resources, and studying the lunar radiation environment.

[edit] LCROSS

The Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) was selected as a secondary payload in 2006 and management of the program was assigned to Ames Research Center (ARC). LCROSS is co-manifested with LRO and will launch on an Atlas V 401 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.[1]

[edit] Future projects

As LRO and LCROSS send back high-resolution data, the Lunar Mapping and Modeling project will use those data to develop detailed topographic maps of the lunar surface. In addition, solar radiation levels will also be mapped and modeled. These integrated data will be used to make decisions about e.g., lunar outpost designs.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a robotic spacecraft which the United States plans to place in orbit around the Moon.[1] Launch is scheduled for late November/December of 2008 [5] aboard an Atlas V launch vehicle.[2] LRO will be the first mission with a primary objective to implement the United States Vision for Space Exploration. To successfully attain the goals of "The Vision", that include human exploration of the Moon, LRO will survey lunar resources and identify possible landing sites.

The LRO launch vehicle will also carry the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), which is designed to detect water liberated as 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.[6]

[edit] Mission

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (Concept study, ca. 2003, now obsolete).
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (Concept study, ca. 2003, now obsolete).

Under development by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, LRO is planned to be a large and sophisticated spacecraft in a polar orbit for a nominal mission of one Earth year. An optional extended phase of the mission (up to 5 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 of 2006.[7]

Areas of investigation will include:[8]

  • Selenodetic global topography
  • Characterization of deep space radiation in Lunar orbit
  • The lunar polar regions, including possible water ice deposits and the lighting environment
  • High-resolution mapping (max 0.5 m) to assist in the selection and characterization of future landing sites

[edit] Onboard instruments

Onboard instruments.
Onboard instruments.

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

  • CRaTER — The primary goal of CRaTER is to characterize the global lunar radiation environment and its biological impacts.
  • DLRE — The Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment will measure lunar surface thermal emission to provide essential information for future surface operations and exploration.
  • 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.
  • LEND — The Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector will provide measurements, create maps, and detect possible near-surface water ice deposits.
  • LOLA — The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) investigation will provide a precise global lunar topographic model and geodetic grid.
  • LROC — The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) has been designed to address the measurement requirements of landing site certification and polar illumination. 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 discredit the Apollo conspiracy theories.[9]
  • Mini-RF — This will demonstrate new lightweight SAR and communications technologies and locate potential water-ice.

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.

[edit] Name to the Moon

Prior to the LRO's launch NASA is giving everyone the opportunity to submit their names to be placed in a microchip on the LRO.

[edit] LCROSS

LCROSS.
LCROSS.

Piggy-backing on the launch of LRO will be the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), which is designed to watch as the launch vehicle's Centaur upper stage strikes a permanently shadowed region near the south pole of the Moon.[10] 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, then approximately 4 minutes after the Centaur impact will itself crash into a different part of the crater.

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.[11] Mission scientists estimate that the Centaur impact plume may be visible through amateur-class telescopes with apertures as small as 10 to 12 inches.[12] Both impacts will also be monitored by Earth-based observatories and possibly by other orbital assets.

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.[13] LCROSS is being managed by NASA's Ames Research Center and built by Northrop Grumman. The LCROSS preliminary design review was completed on 2006-09-08. The LCROSS mission passed its Mission Confirmation Review on 2007-02-02[14] and its Critical Design Review on 2007-02-22.[15] After assembly and testing at Ames, the instrument payload, provided by Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation,[16] was shipped to Northrop Grumman on 2008-01-14 for integration with the spacecraft.[17]

[edit] Launch, cis-lunar transfer and lunar orbit insertion

A nominal mission profile includes a launch providing a characteristic energy (C_3\,\!) of -1.85 km2s-2, leading to a cis-lunar transfer time of approximately 4 days, followed by lunar orbit insertion through a series of five implusive maneuvers requiring delta-vs of 11 to 385 meters per second.[18]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Launch. lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  2. ^ a b Mission design and operation considerations for NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  3. ^ Lunar Precursor Robotic Program. NASA. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
  4. ^ Robotic Lunar Exploration Program 2008 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). NASA (2004 09).
  5. ^ Launch Schedule. NASA. Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
  6. ^ Lunar Precursor Robotic Program. NASA. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  7. ^ Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Successfully Completes Critical Design Review (2006-12-07). Retrieved on 2007-02-06.
  8. ^ Savage, Donald; Gretchen Cook-Anderson (2004-12-22). NASA Selects Investigations for Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. NASA News. Retrieved on 2006-05-18.
  9. ^ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/11jul_lroc.htm
  10. ^ Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite - LCROSS. NASA.
  11. ^ LCROSS Instrument Systems. NASA. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  12. ^ LCROSS Observation Campaign. NASA.
  13. ^ Tariq Malik. "NASA Adds Moon Crashing Probes to LRO Mission", 2006-04-10. Retrieved on 2006-04-11. 
  14. ^ "NASA Moon-Impactor Mission Passes Major Review", 2007-02-02. 
  15. ^ "Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite Passes Critical Design Review", 2007-03-02. 
  16. ^ "Ecliptic provides key elements of LCROSS payload", www.spaceflightnow.com, 2008-03-03. 
  17. ^ Jonas Dino. "NASA's Quest to Find Water on the Moon Moves Closer to Launch". Retrieved on 2008-02-10. 
  18. ^ NASA RLEP - 2008 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. NASA.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Robotic exploration of the Moon
Programs NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Orbiters
Future
Chandrayaan I and II · Lunar Precursor Robotic Program · GRAIL · LADEE · Luna-Glob · LEO · Selene-2 · Google Lunar X Prize
Flybys
Luna 1  · Luna 3  · Nozomi  · Galileo  · Cassini/Huygens probe
Canceled
LUNAR-A · Lunar Observer
See also
Bold italics indicates active missions