LCROSS and LRO Lunar missions news

[mickw]

Rocket Launches New U.S. Moon Probes

The lunar-crashing secondary payload that will share an Atlas 5 launcher with NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has entered comprehensive performance testing about a month ahead of schedule. That payload, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), is designed to gather data to help researchers determine how much water-ice might be contained in lunar surface material.

More:  http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/080421-busmon-lcross.html

[mickw]

NASA's first moon mission in more than a decade blasted off Thursday, launching two unmanned probes to hunt for water ice and map the lunar surface.

The two new probes - a powerful lunar orbiter and a smaller craft destined to crash into the moon's south pole - atop an Atlas 5 rocket that lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Their launch comes nearly 40 years after the Apollo astronauts first set foot on the moon in July 1969.

"We look forward to bringing the country the first chapter of our new journey of exploration Todd May, manager for NASA's Lunar Precursor Robotic Program.

More:   http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/090618-lro-scouts-launch-wrap.html

Even More, an animation    :   http://www.space.com/common/media/video/player.php?videoRef=SP_0906112_LRO-animation

[Rick]

...and APOD: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090622.html

[mickw]

They've arrived.....................

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/090623-lro-lunar-orbit.html

[Rick]

NASA unleashes Moon-attack probe

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) were successfully projected Moonwards yesterday atop an Atlas V rocket.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/19/moon_mission_launch/

The Moon? We're going nowhere, says NASA official

While this week saw NASA successfully launch its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite missions to the Moon - designed as an exploratory prelude to a human return to our satellite - a senior NASA official claimed on Wednesday that existing plans to venture beyond low-Earth orbit were doomed without extra cash or new technologies.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/19/spaceflight_review_update/

NASA moon-attack probe beams home first lunar shots

NASA's new lunar probe beamed home images from the far side of the moon early Tuesday as the spacecraft eased into position for slamming down on the surface this October.

The $79m Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) lifted off on June 18 along with its sister spacecraft, the $504m Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The two spacecraft separated shortly after launch.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/23/nasa_lcross_first_lunar_shots/

[Rick]

The US space agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft has returned its first images since reaching the Moon on 23 June.

The probe's two cameras returned images of a region in the lunar highlands south of Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds).

LRO blasted off on 18 June atop an Atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8131658.stm

[Mike]

Nice images they are too

[Rick]

Anyone who's vacationed in the mountains or lived on a farm knows that it's hard to get good internet access or a strong cell phone signal in a remote area. Communicating across great distances has always been a challenge. So when NASA engineers designed the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), they knew it would need an extraordinary communications system.

Over the next year, the LRO, NASA's diligent robotic scout, will collect more information about the moon's surface and environment than any previous mission. It takes a powerful system to send all of this information more than 238,800 miles back to Earth.

More: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/LRO_twta.html

[Rick]

NASA found the ideal spot to crash its moon-impacting probe this October.

The mission team announced Friday that Cabeus A will be the target crater for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) and its spent Centaur rocket. The permanently-shadowed crater at the lunar south pole was selected for its flat floor, gentle slopes, high concentration of hydrogen, and proper visibility of the wreckage from Earth.

Scientists will be observing the resulting debris plumes hurled into the sunlight to determine if water ice exists at the lunar south pole.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/11/nasa_lcross_impact_location_revealed/

[mickw]

New data and images from NASA's new moon orbiter — the first in more than a decade — have revealed tentative signs of lunar water ice, the space agency announced Thursday.

The powerful Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has successfully completed its testing and calibration phase and entered its mapping orbit of the moon. The spacecraft's instruments have also made measurements of space radiation in the lunar environment and have found more widespread possible signatures of water on the moon.

"The LRO mission already has begun to give us new data that will lead to a vastly improved atlas of the lunar south pole and advance our capability for human exploration and scientific benefit," said Richard Vondrak, LRO project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

More:   http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090917-lro-new-images.html

[Rick]

NASA says that its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) probe in orbit around the Moon has detected neutron signatures indicating possible frozen water deposits hidden in craters at the lunar south pole.

One of the LRO's main missions is to find water on the Moon, which would make it far less expensive and difficult to establish manned bases there. The deep crater bottoms of the lunar antarctic are considered to be a particularly promising place to look, as they are permanently in shadow - never receiving any sunlight which could evaporate ice deposits. It's also impossible to peer into the craters with Earth-based telescopes as their walls hide the bottoms from view, which is one reason why the LRO has been sent out.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/18/nasa_early_lro_results/

[Rick]

NASA has shifted the planned impact point of its Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Moon-attack probe, based on new data which indicate its first choice might not contain as much hydrogen as the water-sniffing mission was looking for.

The agency recently announced that LCROSS would impact on the lunar surface on 9 October in a small crater on the edge of the 48-kilometre-wide Cabeus A, situated in the Moon's south polar region.

However, it now says that "based on continued evaluation of all available data and consultation/input from members of the LCROSS Science Team and the scientific community, including impact experts, ground and space based observers, and observations from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), Lunar Prospector (LP), Chandrayaan-1 and JAXA's Kaguya spacecraft", the suicide mission will now end in a 98-kilometre-wide crater called Cabeus.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/29/lcross_retargeted/

[mickw]

For those who forgot - LCROSS vs THE MOON

Live or recorded, depending when you see it

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

[mickw]

Well live was a disappointment 
Hopefully better footage when LCROSS downloads - probably a couple of hours

[Rick]

'Stop NASA bombing the Moon!'

Treehugging, possibly lycanthropic web-2.0 campaigners have launched a petition intended to "stop NASA from bombing the Moon!".

The organisers of the petition claim that the space agency is turning unspoiled lunar wilderness into a "firing range" for space weapons, and that US "imperialists" intend to colonise the moon "without regard for ecosystems or indigenous peoples".

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/07/stop_nasa_bombing_the_moon/

Lunar ice-mine pole prang probe looking good, says NASA

NASA's mission to crash a spent rocket stage and a following survey craft into a dark crater at the Moon's south pole is now in its final stages. The empty Centaur upper-stage booster has now successfully separated from the LCROSS probe-craft and the two are plunging down toward the lunar antarctic.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/09/lcross_sep_ok/

NASA iceberg-finder prangs into Moon's south pole

NASA has successfully crashed a spent rocket stage and accompanying probe-craft into the Cabeus crater in the lunar antarctic. Space-agency boffins are now eagerly harvesting a flood of data from telescopes, orbiters and the probe itself in order to find out if valuable water ice has been discovered by the impact.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/09/lcross_impact/

NASA moon-bomb probe strikes rich seam of fruitcake

Those readers who've been following NASA's LCROSS lunar pole-prang mission, which saw a brace of spacecraft crash into the Moon's south pole earlier today, will be aware that the effort wasn't popular in all quarters.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/09/lcross_nutter_roundup/

Moon orbiter detects pole-plunge hotspots in dark bottom

NASA has released new images from its spy satellite orbiting the Moon, showing the twin impacts at the lunar south pole of the iceberg-hunting probe which struck there on Friday.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/13/lor_imagery_of_lcross_strikes/

NASA: Lunar pole-shot plume shows up in pictures

NASA chiefs have insisted that their recent mission to crash a pair of spacecraft into the eternally-dark crater deeps of the lunar south pole - which seemed at first look to have produced underwhelming results - was in fact a "smashing success", with definite evidence of a debris plume detected.

The Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission saw an empty Centaur upper-stage booster pile into the Cabeus crater in the high lunar antarctic ten days ago, followed minutes later by a dedicated "Shepherding Spacecraft" which had guided the Centaur from Earth.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/19/lcross_plume_observed/