William Atkins
Friday, 19 June 2009 20:24
Science -
Space
Page 2 of 3
The maps produced by LRO will be used to identify primary landing sites for future astronauts. The north and south poles will be analyzed in special detail in order to identify locations of water ice.
Craig Tooley, LRO project manager, states,
"Our job is to perform reconnaissance of the moon's surface using a suite of seven powerful instruments. NASA will use the data LRO collects to design the vehicles and systems for returning humans to the moon and selecting the landing sites that will be their destinations."
While LRO is orbiting the Moon, the LCROSS will investigate the possibility of water ice on a permanently shadowed crater located at the south pole.
According to the NASA press release,
NASA successfully launches lunar impactor, after liftoff the,
“LRO safely separated from LCROSS 45 minutes later. LCROSS then was powered-up, and the mission operations team at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., performed system checks that confirmed the spacecraft is fully functional.”
The 1,290-pound LCROSS and its 5,216-pound Centaur upper stage rocket will be sent off to the Moon together. On June 23, after arriving at the Moon, the pair will perform a maneuver at about 6 a.m. EDT in order to enter a long polar orbit around Earth and the Moon.
That is, as the Moon orbits the Earth, the LCROSS/Centaur will orbit perpendicular to that orbit. After about three orbits, with each one taking about 37 days to complete, the pair will be set to impact the Moon
Page three concludes.
