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Science LCROSS passes final test before trip to Moon
Science LCROSS passes final test before trip to Moon | LCROSS passes final test before trip to Moon |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Friday, 27 June 2008 | |
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Page 1 of 2 Related stories
The thermal vacuum test subjected the spacecraft to 13.5 days of cooling-and-heating cycles, with temperatures ranging from -40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 degrees Celsius) to 230 degrees Fahrenheit (110 degrees Celsius). The LCROSS mission is being managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center, at Moffitt Field, California. The 4,400-pound (2,000-kilogram) LCROSS is expected to be launched no earlier than November 24, 2008, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. It will be launched as a “secondary payload,” onboard an Atlas V 401 rocket. The primary payload is the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Once in orbit, a Centaur upper stage rocket will execute a burn so that LCROSS/LRO is sent to the Moon in order to enter an elongated Earth orbit. Both spacecraft are expected to reach the Moon in early 2009. As the LRO/LCROSS payloads approach the Moon, the LRO spacecraft will separate from Centaur. Later, the Centaur will separate from LCROSS so that the spent upper stage is positioned to crash into the Moon. The 4,400-pound (1,980-kilogram) Centaur will be used as a lunar “impactor"--crashing into a permanently shadowed cratered region of the Moon’s south pole. The LCROSS will then be positioned so that it will fly through the debris plume created by the collision of Centaur with the Moon. It will take images with visible-, near-infrared-, and mid-infrared-wavelength cameras. Page two continues the story. |
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