lunar reconnaissance orbiter lunar crater observation and sensing satellite press kit

8/7/2019 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite Press Kit

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration

PRESS KIT/JUNE 2009

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO):

Leading NASAs Way Back to the Moon

Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS):

NASAs Mission to Search for Water on the Moon


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Table o Contents

Contacts .................................................................................................................................................................. 1

Media Services Inormation ..................................................................................................................................... 3

LRO/LCROSS Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 5

Mission Quick Facts ................................................................................................................................................ 6

LRO Quick Facts .................................................................................................................................................... 6LCROSS Quick Facts .............................................................................................................................................. 7

Launch Vehicle Mated With LRO/LCROSS ........................................................................................................... 9

LRO/LCROSS Mission rajectory .......................................................................................................................... 10

Why the Moon? ...................................................................................................................................................... 11

Historical Exploration o the Moon ......................................................................................................................... 13

LRO Mission Overview ........................................................................................................................................... 14

LRO Mission at a Glance ........................................................................................................................................ 15

LRO Instruments .................................................................................................................................................... 16

LRO Across the Country ......................................................................................................................................... 20

LRO Products and Benets ..................................................................................................................................... 21

LRO Spacecrat With Instruments .......................................................................................................................... 22

reasure Hunting on the Moon: LRO and the Search or Water .............................................................................. 23

Robot Scout: Fly Me (Saely) to the Moon .............................................................................................................. 24

LCROSS Mission Overview .................................................................................................................................... 26

LCROSS Mission at a Glance ................................................................................................................................. 27

Te Search or Water on the Moon.......................................................................................................................... 28

LCROSS Science Instruments ................................................................................................................................. 30LCROSS Spacecrat ................................................................................................................................................ 33

LCROSS Observation Campaign ............................................................................................................................ 35

Future NASA Lunar Missions ................................................................................................................................. 36

Program/Project Oversight ...................................................................................................................................... 36


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Contacts

Media Contacts

Grey Hautaluoma/Ashley Edwards

Exploration Systems Mission DirectorateNASA Headquarters, Washington

2023580668/[email protected]/[email protected]

Kimberly Newton

Lunar Precursor Robotic ProgramMarshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, [email protected]

Nancy Neal Jones

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Project Oce

Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, [email protected]

Jonas Dino

Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite Project OceAmes Research Center, Moett Field, [email protected]

George Diller

Kennedy Space CenterKennedy Space Center, [email protected]

Mike Rein/Julie AndrewsUnited Launch AllianceCape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.3217305646/[email protected]@ulalaunch.com

Sally Koris

Northrop Grumman Aerospace SystemsRedondo Beach, [email protected]


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LRO Principal Investigator

Public Aairs Personnel

LOLA

Nancy Neal JonesGoddard Space Flight [email protected]

LAMP

Maria MartinezSouthwest Research [email protected]

LROC

Nicole StaabArizona State [email protected]

DIVINER

Stuart WolpertUniversity o Caliornia, Los [email protected]

David C. AgleJet Propulsion Laboratory

[email protected]

CRATER

Ron RosenbergBoston [email protected]

Mini-RF

Mike Buckley/Kristi Marren

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory2402287536/[email protected]@jhuapl.edu

LCROSS Principal Investigator

Public Aairs Personnel

Science Instrument Payload

Jonas DinoAmes Research [email protected]


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Media Services Inormation

NASA Television

In the continental United States, NASA elevisions Public, Education and Media channels are carried by MPEG 2 digitalC-band signal on AMC 6, at 72 degrees west longitude, ransponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polarization. Tey areavailable in Alaska and Hawaii on an MPEG 2 digital C-band signal accessed via satellite AMC 7, transponder 18C,137 degrees west longitude, 4060 MHz, vertical polarization. A Digital Video Broadcast-Compliant Integrated Receiver

Decoder with modulation o QPSK/DBV, data rate o 36.86 and FEC 3/4 is required or reception.NASA TV Multichannel Broadcast Includes:

PublicServicesChannel(Channel101)

EducationChannel(Channel102)

MediaServicesChannel(Channel103)

Analog NASA V is no longer available. For digital downlink inormation or each NASA V channel, schedule inorma-tion or mission activities, and access to NASA Vs public channel on the Web, visit .

Briefngs

A mission and science overview news conerence will be held at NASA Headquarters. Te news conerence will be broad-cast live on NASA elevision.

Te prelaunch readiness press conerence will be held at 1 p.m. ED (10 a.m. PD), on Monday, June 15, 2009 (launchminus two days) in the Kennedy News Center at NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Fla. Te science brieng will be held onL-1 at 1 p.m. ED (launch minus one day) on uesday, June 16, 2009 in the Kennedy News Center. Tese briengs will alsobe broadcast live on NASA elevision. Media advisories will be issued in advance, outlining details o the news conerences.

Accreditation and Media Access Badges or KSC

All news media, including those who are permanently badged, must complete the accreditation process or the activitiesassociated with the LRO/LCROSS launch. Te press accreditation process may be done via the Web by going to

.

Accreditation requests or the LRO/LCROSS prelaunch, launch, and postlaunch activities at KSC must be received byMay 27 or oreign national news media and by June 10 or domestic news media. Foreign nationals must include ulllegal name, news organization, address, nationality/citizenship, passport number, and date o birth. For inormation aboutmedia accreditation, contact Laurel Lichtenberger in the KSC news media accreditation oce at 3218674036.

KSC News Center Hours or Launch

Te NASA News Center at KSC will provide updates to the media advisories. Launch status reports will be recorded onthe KSC news media codaphone that may be dialed at 3218672525 starting Monday, June 15, 2009. News center hourson L-2 and L-1 will be 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ED and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ED on launch day.

NASA Television Coverage

For inormation about NASA elevision coverage o the launch, visit.

NASA Web Prelaunch and Launch Coverage

NASAs home on the Internet, , will provide extensive prelaunch and launch day coverage o theLRO/LCROSS missions.


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LRO/LCROSS Executive Summary

One o the rst steps in NASAs 21st century lunar endeavor will be the launch o the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter andthe Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, missions that will help to set the stage or uture exploration andscientic research.

LRO is being developed and managed as part o NASAs Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. It is a robotic mission

aimed at creating a comprehensive atlas o the moons eatures and identiying available resources. LROs launch date isscheduled or the early summer o 2009. Te missions objectives are to nd possible landing sites, locate potential resources,characterize the radiation environment, and test new technology.

Ater launch, LROs journey to the moon will take approximately our days. LRO will then enter an elliptical or commis-sioning orbit (30 216 km). During this period, the LRO spacecrat will be checked out and the scientic instrumentationsuite will be activated and tested. Ater about sixty days, LRO will enter its operational circular polar orbit, 50 km (about30 mi) above the moons surace.

Te LRO payload, comprised o seven instruments, will provide vital data to enable a human return to the moon. LRO willspend at least one year in low polar orbit around the moon, collecting detailed inormation about the lunar surace and envi-

ronment. Ater a year, having collected the data or human mission planning, the spacecrat will be transerred to theScience Mission Directorate and will be used or an extended period o time to address high priority scientic questionsidentied by the National Academy o Sciences.

Although LRO will remotely sense evidence o resources such as water ice in cold regions o the moon, the LRO launch willalso carry another spacecrat, LCROSS, which will directly determine i water ice occurs in an area o permanent shadownear the lunar poles.

LCROSS is a spectacular mission that is taking a novel approach at answering a lingering scientic question: does water ice existon the moon? I the answer is yes, it could potentially be a useul resource or uture exploration. LCROSS represents a new gen-eration o ast development, cost-capped missions that use o-the-shel hardware and fight-proven sotware to achieve ocused

mission goals. LCROSS also uses the spent second stage o the Atlas rocket, the Centaur, as an SUV-sized kinetic impactorsomething that has never been done beore-to excavate a small crater in the bottom o a permanently shadowed lunar crater.

Whatever LCROSS discovers about the presence o water, it will increase our knowledge o the mineralogical makeup o someo the most remote areas o the moondeep polar craters where sunshine never reaches. People around the world will take partin observation campaigns to witness the missions historic twin impacts on the lunar surace and their results.

Tese companion missions, launched together on an Atlas V rocket, will mark the return o NASA to the moon and usherin a new era o scientic exploration o our sister in the solar system.

The radius o the moon is

1,080 miles (1,738 kilometers);

the diameter is 2,160 miles

(3,476 kilometers).


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Mission Quick Facts

Mission

Launch Period: June 17, 2009 (3:51 p.m. 4:11 p.m. ED)Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla, Launch Complex 41Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Atlas V (401)Fuel: Te rst stage is powered by kerosene (RP1) and liquid oxygen (LOX) and the Centaur upper stage

is powered by liquid hydrogen (LH2) and LOX.Orbit: LRO has a 31 mile (50 km) altitude circular lunar polar orbit.LCROSS has a Lunar Gravity-Assist, Lunar Return Orbit (LGALRO) around the Earth-moon systemat approximately 80 degrees rom the ecliptic plane

Orbital Period: LRO orbit period is 113 minutes (Lunar Polar Orbit).LCROSS Each LGALRO orbit is approximately 37 days.

LRO Quick Facts

Duration: LRO has a one-year exploration mission ollowed by a possible three-year science mission.Mass: Te total mass at launch is 1,916 kilograms (4,224 pounds). Te dry mass is 1,018 kilograms (2,244 pounds), and

uel is 898 kilograms (1,980 pounds).Power: Spacecrat power is 685 watts.Dimensions: Stowed in the rocket (solar array and high-gain antenna olded up), LRO is 152 inches tall. LRO measures103 inches rom the instrument module to the stowed solar array and 108 inches rom the stowed high-gain antenna toMini-RF antenna. Ater launch, LROs deployed solar array is 168 inches 126 inches. Te three panels together are168 inches wide and extend out rom the spacecrat 126 inches. Te deployed high-gain antenna extends out 102 inches.Fine Pointing: Te spacecrat maintains pointing control to 60 arc seconds.Solar Array: Te spacecrat has articulated solar arrays and Li-ion battery.Telemetry: elemetry is Ka-band hi-rate downlink and S-band up/down low rateData Volume and Maximum Downlink Rate: Te data volume is 461 Gb per day and downlink is 100 Mb per second.Spacecraft Provider: Te spacecrat was built by engineers at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Orbit

Te trip to the moon will take approximately our days. LRO will then enter an elliptical orbit, also called the commissioningorbit. From there, it will be moved into its nal orbit a circular polar orbit approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) abovethe moons surace.

Mission Operations Center

Te Mission Operations Center (MOC) resides at NASA Goddard Space Flight in Greenbelt, Md. Engineers at Goddardwill control the spacecrat ater separation, during lunar orbit insertion, and or mission operations. Te MOC fows rawdata to principal investigators.

Planetary Data System:

Principal investigators will deliver instrument data to the Planetary Data System within six months ater initial operations.Te Planetary Data System is a publicly accessible repository o science data or planetary missions.

Project Cost

Te projects lie cost is approximately $500 million.


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Instruments

CRaER Te Principal Investigator is Dr. Harlan Spence, Boston University, Boston. Te instrument mass is5.4 kilograms (12 pounds) and the average power is 7.3 watts.

Diviner Te Principal Investigator is Dr. David Paige, University o Caliornia, Los Angeles, Cali. Te instrument massis 11.0 kilograms (24 pounds) with average power o 24.7 watts.

LAMP Te Principal Investigator is Dr. Randy Gladstone, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, exas.Te instrument mass is 6.1 kilograms (13 pounds) and the average power is 4.0 watts.

LEND Te Principal Investigator is Dr. Igor Mitroanov, Institute or Space Research, Moscow, Russia. Teinstrument mass is 25.8 kilograms (57 pounds) and the average power is 11.6 watts.

LOLA Te Principal Investigator is Dr. David Smith, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.Te instrument mass is 11.3 kilograms (25 pounds) and the average power is 33.4 watts.

LROC Te Principal Investigator is Dr. Mark Robinson, Arizona State University, empe, Ariz. Te instrument massis 19.2 kilograms (42 pounds) and the average power is 24.0 watts.

Mini-RF Te Principal Investigator is Dr. Stewart Nozette, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston. Te instrumentmass is 13.8 kilograms (30 pounds) and the average power is 7.0 watts.

LCROSS Quick Facts

Shepherding Spacecrat (S-S/C)Dimensions: Te overall size is 79 inches (2 m) tall and the basic structure is 103 inches (2.6 m) in diameter. Fromomni Z to omni +Z antennae the spacecrat is 131 inches (3.3 m) wide.Mass: Te total mass at launch is 1,664 pounds (891 kg) consisting o 1,290 pounds (585 kg) or the spacecrat and674.6 pounds (306 kg) o hydrazine uel.Additional Information: Te max./min. range or the mass o the S-S/C at impact is max. = 866 kg, min. = 621 kg,and avg. = 743 kg. Tere are a number o actors that predict this mass at time o impact, including launch day.Power: Power to onboard systems is provided by a xed 600-watt peak power solar array and a Li-ion battery. A startracker assembly and 10 coarse sun sensors maintain orientation to the sun.Targeting Accuracy: A targeting accuracy o 6.2 mile (10 km) radius is required, but actual targeting accuracy is expectedto be .75 miles (1.2 km) radius.

Telemetry: Spacecrat communications are provided through two medium gain antennas operating at 1.5 Mbps (nomi-nal), two omnidirectional antennas operating at 40 Kbps (nominal), and a 7-watt S-band radio requency transponder.Data: Spacecrat data (engineering and housekeeping) and science instrument data are relayed in real time to the LCROSSmission and science operations teams.Spacecraft Provider: Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, Cali., and Northrop Grumman echnicalServices, Latham, Md.Build: Te spacecrat was designed and built at Northrop Grummans Redondo Beach, Cali., acilities, and the sciencepayload was designed and built at NASAs Ames Research Center, Moett Field, Cali.Science Payload: Te science payload consists o two near-inrared spectrometers, an ultraviolet-visible light spectrometer,two mid-inrared cameras, two near-inrared cameras, a visible camera, and a visible high-speed photometer. Data rom allnine instruments in the LCROSS science payload are managed through a common Data Handling Unit electronics unit.

Mission Duration: Te LCROSS mission is a three-month to seven-month impactor mission to a permanently shadowedcrater near one o the moons poles depending on the time and date o launch and target crater.Operations: Mission and science operations or the LCROSS mission are located at NASA Ames Research Center,Moett Field, Cali.Project Cost: Te LCROSS mission costs $79 million plus additional unding rom the Lunar Robotic Precursor Programto cover the delays in launch rom October 2008.


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Centaur Rocket

Dimensions: Te Centaur rocket is 41.6 eet tall (12.68 m) and 10 eet in diameter. Attached to the LCROSS spacecrat,the stack measures 47 eet (14.5 m).Mass: Te total mass o the Centaur at impact is at most 5,216 pounds (2,366 kg).

Lunar Approach

Separation: Te Centaur and Shepherding Spacecrat will separate approximately nine hours and 40 minutes beoreCentaur impact at a height o about 54,059 miles (87,000 km) above the surace o the moon.180 Maneuver: Ater separation rom the Centaur, the Shepherding Spacecrat will perorm a maneuver to createseparation rom the Centaur and orient the science payload toward the moon.Timing: Te Shepherding Spacecrat will impact the lunar surace our minutes ater the Centaur impact.

Impacts

Speed: At impact, the Centaur and Shepherding Spacecrat will be traveling approximately 1.55 miles per second (2.5 km/s).Angle: Te vehicles will impact the lunar surace at approximately 6070 degrees to the lunar surace.Mass of Impactors: At impact, the Centaur will range rom a minimum o 4,958 pounds (2,249 kg) to a maximum o5,216 pounds (2,366 kg). Nominal impact mass or the Centaur is 5,081 pounds (2,305 kg). Te range or the impactmass o the Shepherding Spacecrat is a minimum o 1,369 pounds (621kg) to a maximum o 1,909 pounds (866 kg).Impact Sizes: Te Centaur impact will excavate greater than 350 metric tons o lunar material and create a crater 66 eet(20 m) in diameter to a depth o 13 eet (4 m). Te Shepherding Spacecrat impact will excavate an estimated 150 metrictons and with a crater 46 eet (14 m) in diameter to a depth o 6 eet (2 m).Plume Height: Most o the material in the Centaur debris plume will remain at (lunar) altitudes below 6.2 miles (10 km).Target Crater: Te current target location is a permanently shadowed crater near the south pole. Final determination othe target crater will be announced 30 days beore impact. Te targets pole is determined at launch.Observation Campaign: Proessional and amateur astronomers are working with the LCROSS science team to coordinatethe observations o the dual impacts o the LCROSS mission.


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Launch Vehicle Mated With LRO/LCROSS

LRO/LCROSS Launch Confguration

Atlas V 401

Fairing

(4-meter Dia.)

Payload Adapter

Centaur Upper Stage

CCB Conical

Interstage Adapter

RD-180 Engine

Common Core Booster (CCB)

Centaur Interstage

Adapter

RL10 Engine

LRO

LCROSS

Total mass o the moon is 81 quintillion tons

(74 sextillion kilograms).

The surace temperature at the equator

during the day is as high as 273 degrees F,134 degrees C and at night is as cold as

minus 244 degrees F (minus 153 degrees C).


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LRO/LCROSS Mission Trajectory

T- 2.7 sec Ignition

T+ 1.1 sec Lito

T+ 4 min 10 sec Atlas/Centaur (EDUS) SeparationT+ 4 min 20 sec Centaur Main Engine Start 1

T+ 4 min 30 sec Payload Fairing Jettison

T+ 14 min 30 sec Centaur Main Engine Cut-O 1

T+ 36 min 42 sec Centaur Main Engine Start 2

T+ 41 min 42 sec Centaur Main Engine Cut-O 2

T+ 45 min Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Spacecrat Separation

T+ 4 hours Centaur handover to LCROSS

Ignition

T-2.7 sec

Liftoff

T+1.1 sec

Atlas/Centaur Separation

T+250 sec

Centaur MES 1

T+260 sec

Payload Fairing Jettison

T+270 sec

Centaur MECO 2

T+2,500 sec

LRO Spacecraft

Separation

T+2,700 sec

MES Main Engine Start

MECO Main Engine Cut-Off

Centaur Maneuver

Into LCROSS

Transit Orbit

LRO Mission

to the Moon

Centaur MECO 1

T+870 sec

Centaur MES 2

T+2,200 sec

Gravity at the surace o the moon is 1/6

that o the Earth.

The moons magnetic feld is less than

0.01 that o the Earths.


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Why the Moon?

Imagine walking on another world. Imagine exploring a mysterious landscape that no other human has seen beore. Imaginelooking up and seeing the Earth rise. Te Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and SensingSatellite will set the stage or such an incredible journey.

Space exploration not only inspires us, it challenges and

excites us. It gives us new perspectives on our problemsand opens up new economic opportunities.

Te moon itsel is a geologic wonderland. Tere are moun-tains that are many miles high, lava fows several hundredmiles long and enormous lava tubes and craters o everysize. o date, only twelve human beings have set oot uponthe moon, exploring only six locations on the lunar sur-ace. Tere are spectacular vistas on the lunar surace thatno human has yet seen and equally spectacular scienticdiscoveries to be made. Te knowledge gleaned rom the

eldwork and sampling perormed during the Apolloexpeditions undamentally changed our views o the solarsystem and the larger universe around us. Science, how-ever, is not static, and ater 40 years o intensely studyingthe Apollo results there are exciting new scientic ques-tions about the moon that need to be addressed.

Our lunar missions will enable the pursuit o scienticactivities that address undamental questions about thehistory o the Earth and moon, the solar system and theuniverse, and about our place in them. Lunar exploration

will allow us to test technologies, systems, fight operation,and exploration techniques that will reduce the risk andcost o potential uture human missions to asteroids, Mars,and beyond. Exploration activities could also expand

humanitys economic sphere to conduct lunar activities with enormous benets to lie on our home planet, opening a newrontier o energy and vitality to American enterprise.

Scouting the Next Frontier

Te moon is the Earths nearest celestial neighbor. It is the brightest object in the night sky and has prooundly infuencedthe course o human civilization. For early humans, the moon provided lighting or hunting and dened when cropsshould be planted and harvested. Markings o lunar phases appear in cave paintings in France and dened the arrangement

o Stonehenge. For modern humans, the moon is the next rontier.

Te moon has almost the same surace area as the continent o Arica and is only our days away. It is thereore the perectplace to learn how to live and work in deep space, beyond the relative saety o low-Earth orbit.

Every great voyage begins with a rst step. Existing lunar datasets (including Lunar Orbiter, Apollo, Clementine, andLunar Prospector) are insucient to completely plan uture lunar operations, especially in areas outside o the so-calledApollo Zone (the ront side o the moon near equatorial areas visited by the Apollo missions), where imagery is sparseor o low resolution. In act, we have better maps o Mars than we do o our own moon.

Apollo 15 metric photograph depicting Hadley Rille (the sinuous eature near

the upper-center o the picture) and the lunar Apennine Mountains, which

start at the upper let-hand corner o the image and extend to the righto the image. The white circle indicates the Apollo 15 landing site. (Apollo

Image AS15M1422 [NASA/JSC/Arizona State University]


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Ongoing lunar missions (including the Japanese Kaguya mission, the Chinese ChangE mission, and the Indian Chandrayaan-1mission) are collecting datasets o high scientic and exploration value. LRO will provide critical imagery and remote sensingdata that enables a daring new era o lunar exploration and development and LCROSS will give us more inormation aboutthe presence o water ice and the moons mineralogical makeup. LRO and LCROSS are the necessary rst steps on our journeyto the moon, Mars, and beyond!

For additional inormation: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/home/why_moon.html

The orbital speed o the moon is

2,287 mph (3,680 km per hour).


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Historical Exploration o the Moon

1609 Lippershey invented the telescope.1610 Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei made the rst telescopic observation o the moon.1610 Tomas Harriot and Galilei drew rst telescopic representation o moon.1645 Michael Florent van Langren made rst map o moon.1647 Johannes Hevelius published rst treatise devoted to the moon.

1651 Giovanni Battista Riccioli named craters ater philosophers and astronomers.1753 Roger Joseph Boscovich proved the moon has no atmosphere.1824 Franz von Gruithuisen thought craters were ormed by meteor strikes.1920 Robert Goddard suggested sending rockets to the moon.1959 Soviet spacecrat Luna 2 reached the moon, impacting near the crater Autolycus.1961 President John F. Kennedy proposed a manned lunar program.1964 Ranger 7 produced the st close-up V pictures o the lunar surace.1966 Luna 9 made the rst sot landing on the moon.1967 Lunar Orbiter missions completed photographic mapping o the moon.1968 Apollo 8 made the rst manned fight to the moon, circling it 10 times beore returning to Earth.1969 Apollo 11 mission made the rst landing on the moon and returned samples.

1972 Apollo 17 made the last manned landing o the Apollo Program.1976 Soviet Luna 24 returned the last sample o the moon.1990 Galileo spacecrat obtained multispectral images o the western limb and part o the ar side o the moon.1994 Clementine mission conducted multispectral mapping o the moon.1998 Lunar Prospector launched.2004 NASAs Vision or Space Exploration unveiled2007 Japanese SELENE (Kaguya) launched.2007 Chinese Change 1 launched.2008 Indian Chandrayaan 1 launched.

At the closest distance, it would take

135 days to drive by car at 70 mph

to the moon.


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LRO Mission Overview

Mission Objectives

Te objectives o the LRO mission are to aid NASA in identiying landing sites, locate potential resources, describe the cur-rent radiation environment, and demonstrate new technology.

Te LRO spacecrat will be placed in low polar orbit (50 km) or a 1-year mission under NASAs Exploration Systems Mis-

sion Directorate. LRO will return global data to develop useul tools, such as day-night temperature maps, a global geode-tic grid, high-resolution color imaging and the moons UV albedo. Particular emphasis will be ocused on the polar regionswhere continuous access to solar illumination may be possible and the prospect o water ice in the permanently shadowedpolar craters beckons. Although the objectives o LRO are exploratory in nature, the payload includes instruments withconsiderable heritage rom previous planetary science missions, enabling transition ater one year, to a science phase underNASAs Science Mission Directorate.

With a comprehensive dataset ocused on supporting the extension o human presence in the solar system, LRO will helpidentiy sites close to potential resources with high scientic value, avorable terrain and the environment necessary oruture robotic and human lunar missions. All LRO data and the products produced rom those data will be depositedin NASAs Planetary Data System (PDS), a publicly accessible repository o planetary science inormation. Te raw and

processed datasets will help the world develop a deeper understanding o the lunar environment, paving the way or a saehuman return to the moon and or uture human exploration o our Solar System.

Mission Profle

LRO will launch on an Atlas V 401 rocket and the trip to the moon will take approximately our days. LRO will thenenter an elliptical orbit, also called the commissioning orbit. From there, it will be moved into its nal orbit a circularpolar orbit approximately 50 km (31 miles) above the moons surace. LRO will spend at least one year in low polar orbitcollecting detailed inormation about the moon and its environment.

The moon is actually moving away rom

Earth at a rate o 1.5 inches per year.


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Phase Entry Exit Duration Objectives

PrelaunchStart o LV count-

down sequenceLV lito ~1 day

Congure orbiter into launch mode

Short spacecrat checkout

Launch LV lito Payload separation ~90 minutes Achieve translunar trajectory

Early cruise Payload separation Observing mode ~90 minutes

Sun acquisition and ground acquisition

Deployments Initial MCC Tracking

Mid cruise Observing mode Completion o MCC ~1 day

Propulsion checks

Final MCC planning

Execution o MCC burn within L+24 hrs

Late cruise Completion o MCCStart o LOI

sequence34 days

LEND/CRaTER early turn-on activities

Spacecrat unctional checkout

LOI planning

Lunar Orbit

Acquisition

Start o LOI

sequenceCommissioning orbit 46 days

Perorm lunar orbit capture maneuver

Achieve 30 x 216 km commissioning orbit

Commissioning Commissioning orbit Mission orbit Up to 60 days

Spacecrat checkout and calibrations

Instruments checkout and calibrations

Mission orbit adjustment

Exploration

missionMission orbit

Ater 1-year nominal

operations1 year

Routine operations

Nonroutine operations

Data product generation

Science missionAter 1-year nominal

operationsImpact

Up to 3 addi-

tional years

Goals to be determined

Impact prediction/activities

End o mission ImpactCompletion o close-

out activitiesN/A Finalize mission operations/activities

LRO Mission at a Glance


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LRO Instruments

Goals and Specifcations

Cosmic Ray Telescope or the Eects o Radiation (CRaTER)

Goals

Te primary goal o CRaER is to characterize the lunar radiation environment

in terms o the dierent types o charged particles and their energies, particularlyabove 10 MeV. Radiation comes rom the sun and beyond the Solar System (galacticcosmic rays). Tese data will allow scientists to determine the potential biologi-cal impacts o the radiation. CRaER will also test models o radiation eects andshielding and measure radiation absorption by human tissue-like plastic, aiding inthe development o protective technologies to help keep crews sae.

Instrumentation

CRaER measures the energy deposited by cosmic rays over a wide energy rangebehind dierent amounts o tissue-equivalent plastic (EP). Radiation passingthrough the telescope, including ions and electrons, and to a lesser extent neutrons

and gamma rays, loses energy while passing through silicon detectors and the EP.When ionizing radiation passes through a detector a signal is produced that is pro-portional to the total energy lost in the detector. Detectors are in pairs, one thickerand one thinner, which when combined, provide measurements o the linear energytranser (LE) over the range o 0.1 keV/m to 2.2 MeV/m, a range relevantto radiobiology. Measured LE is used to understand how radiation loss evolves

in human tissue and how dose rates change during periods o heightened solar activity and ultimately over the course o thesolar cycle. CRaER will make the rst direct, high-resolution measurements in deep space o the LE spectrum o energeticradiation. Tese data will be o major importance not only or human exploration but also or better understanding radiationeects in spacecrat systems.

Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment (DLRE)Goals

Te objective o DLRE is to measure lunar surace temperatures at scales thatprovide essential inormation or uture surace operations and exploration. Tetemperature o the lunar surace and subsurace is a critical environmental param-eter or uture human and robotic exploration. While the Apollo missions wereall targeted to equatorial landing sites and were only conducted during the lunarday, NASAs new lunar exploration program will involve exploration o a muchwider range o latitudes and astronaut stays o longer than two weeks. Both typeso missions involve considerably more challenging thermal environments and will

benet greatly rom a comprehensive global thermal mapping dataset that Divinerwill provide. A key objective is to determine the temperatures within permanentlyshadowed areas, which would be well below 100 K (279 F), to understand the potential o these areas to harbor water ice.Orbital thermal mapping measurements also provide detailed inormation on surace parameters such as composition, hazards,rough terrain, or rocks.

Instrumentation

Te Diviner instrument will be able to determine surace temperatures to within 5 C across areas as small as 300 m using9 dierent wavelengths between 7 and 200 microns. Te structure consists o an optics bench assembly, a motor drivenelevation/azimuth yoke, and an instrument mount. Te optics bench holds all o the optical subassemblies (the mirrors and


21/4417

detectors) and is suspended rom the yoke. Motors on the yoke allow the instrument to be pointed in dierent directionsand scan across the surace. Te instrument is temperature controlled. Radiometric calibration is provided by viewing oblackbody and solar targets mounted on the yoke.

Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP)

Goals

Te goal o the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) is to map the entire

lunar surace in the ar ultraviolet part o the spectrum. LAMP will search orsurace ice and rost in the polar regions and provide images o permanentlyshadowed regions, illuminated only by starlight and the glow o interplanetaryhydrogen emission, known as the Lyman Alpha line.

Instrumentation

LAMP is an imaging ultraviolet spectrometer based on an instrument that is currentlyon its way to Pluto (the ALICE UV spectrometer). Te instrument detects ultravioletlight between 1,200 1,800 . Building up data over the course o the mission willallow surace resolutions o a ew kilometers with high signal-to-noise ratio.

Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND)

Goals

Te Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND) will measure the neutron fuxrom the moon rom thermal energies up to 15 MeV. LEND will create maps osurace and subsurace (down to ~1 meter) hydrogen distribution by measuringthe epithermal neutron fux (0.4 eV100 eV) with high-spatial resolution (10 kmFull Width Hal Maximum (FWHM)). LEND will be able to detect hydrogen inpermanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles that may be water ice. Detec-tion o water ice deposits will identiy a critical resource or the uture long-termhuman presence on the moon. LEND will also gather inormation about the neu-tron component o the lunar radiation environment, also extremely important orits impact on astronaut health.

Instrumentation

LEND is a neutron spectrometer similar to another instrument, the High Ener-gy Neutron Detector (HEND) that has been operating around Mars since 2001

on the Mars Odyssey spacecrat. Te neutrons measured by these instrumentsare ormed by cosmic-ray interactions with the planetary surace. I hydrogen ispresent, it will change the energy spectrum o those neutrons, providing quanti-tative inormation on hydrogen distribution. Unlike HEND, LEND is designedwith a passive collimator that provides high spatial resolution (10 km FWHM)o neutron emission at the lunar surace. No other neutron instrument with thisimaging capability has ever fown in space.


22/4418

Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA)

Goals

Te Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) investigation will provide a preciseglobal lunar topographic model and geodetic grid that will serve as the rame-work to enable precise target location, sae landing, and surace mobility to carryout exploratory activities. LOLA will also characterize the polar illuminationenvironment by mapping the details o the topography, and image permanentlyshadowed polar regions o the moon to identiy possible locations o surace ice

crystals in shadowed polar craters.

Building on our previous experiences on the moon and Mars, we now know thattopography at scales rom local to global is necessary or landing saely. In addi-tion, it preserves the record o the evolution o the surace that contributes todecisions as to where to explore.

Instrumentation

Te LOLA instrument pulses a single laser at 1,064 nm wavelength laser, splitting the output into ve beams that illu-minates surace 28 times per second. For each beam, LOLA measures time o fight (range), pulse spreading (suraceroughness), and transmit/return energy (surace refectance). Tis allows the topography to be determined, along with anindication o whether the surace is rough or smooth at small scales and any changes in the surace brightness. With its two

dimensional spot pattern, LOLA unambiguously determines slopes along and across the orbit track.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC)

Goals

LROC is designed to address two o the prime LRO measurement requirements:(1) Assess meter scale eatures to acilitate selection o uture landing sites on themoon, and (2) acquire images o the poles every orbit to characterize the polarillumination environment (100-meter scale), identiying regions o permanentshadow and permanent or near-permanent illumination throughout a ull lunaryear. In addition to these two main objectives, the LROC team plans to conduct

meter-scale mapping o polar regions, 3-dimensional observations to enablederivation o meter-scale surace eatures, global multispectral imaging, and pro-duction o a global landorm map. LROC will also reimage sites photographedduring Apollo to measure recent meteorite impact rates and better understandthe potential hazard rom these impacts.Instrumentation

LROC consists o two narrow-angle cameras (NACs) to provide 0.5 meter scale panchromatic images over a 5-km swath,a wide-angle camera (WAC) to provide images at a scale o 100 meter in seven color bands over a 60-km swath, and aSequence and Compressor System (SCS) supporting data acquisition or both cameras. LROC is a modied version o theMars Reconnaissance Orbiters ConeXt Camera (CX) and MARs Color Imager (MARCI) provided by Malin Space Sci-

ence Systems (MSSS) in San Diego, Cali.

One o the two LROC Narrow Angle Cameras

(NAC), the Wide Angle Camera (WAC), and the

Sequence and Compressor System (SCS) during

ground testing at Malin Space Science Systems.


23/4419

Mini-RF

Goals

Mini-RF on LRO will provide observations o the permanently shadowed areas byusing radar illumination o the surace at resolutions o 30 and 150 meters. Tereturned data will also be used to dene the manner in which the radar energy isscattered and refected back to the spacecrat. Depending upon the characteristicso the refected energy, it will be possible to determine i ice is present in signi-cant quantities in the areas o permanent shadow. Because radar uses wavelengthso 812 GHz (X band) and 2 GHz (S band) it is sensitive to surace roughness(rocks) and can be used to map rock distribution. A less advanced version o thisinstrument is being fown on the Chandrayaan-1 mission and those data will beused to guide the higher resolution and more advanced measurements made byMini-RF.

Instrumentation

Te Mini-RF is a technology demonstration o an advanced synthetic apertureradar (SAR), capable o measurements in X-band and S-band. Mini-RF will dem-onstrate new lightweight SAR communication technologies and locate potentialwater ice. Te Mini-RF instrument consists o electronic boxes and an antenna.Te antenna is mounted on the side o the spacecrat and it points at an angleo 50. An image is produced by the motion o the spacecrat.


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LEND Laboratory or Space Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy, Institute or Space Research, Moscow, Russia(with Operations Centers at University o Arizona and University o Maryland)DIVINER Earth and Space Science Department, University o Caliornia Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Cali.LROC School o Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, empe, Ariz.LAMP Space Science and Engineering Division, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, exas.Mini-RF Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.LOLA NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.CRaER Department o Astronomy, Boston University, Boston.

The moons widest craters are 1,553 miles(2,500 km) in diameter.

LRO Across the Country


25/4421

LRO Products and Benefts

Instrument Example Key Data Products Example o Exploration Benefts Example o Science Benefts

LOLA

Lunar Orbiter Laser

Altimeter

50-m polar topography at

1-m vertical accuracy, global

topography, surace slopes, and

roughness.

Identiy sae landing sites, image

shadowed regions, map potential

surace ice, improve gravity eld

model.

Global topography and gravity or

interior structure and geological

evolution.

LROC

Lunar Reconnaissance

Orbiter Camera

Thousands o 50-cm/pixelimages, and entire moon at 100

m in UV, Visible. Polar illumina-

tion conditions.

Surace landing hazards, locations

o near constant solar illumination.

Impact and volcanic processes,

resource evaluation, and crustal

evolution.

LEND

Lunar Exploration

Neutron Detector

Maps o hydrogen in upper

1 m o moon at 10-km scales,

neutron albedo.

Locate potential water ice in lunar

soil or concentrations o implanted

hydrogen.

Distribution, sources, and history

o polar volatiles.

DLRE

Diviner Lunar Radio-

meter Experiment

500-m scale maps o surace

temperature, albedo, rock

abundance, and ice stability.

Measures thermal environment in

permanent shadow and permanent

light ice stability depth map.

LAMP

Lyman Alpha MappingProject

Maps o rosts and landorms

in permanently shadowedregions (PSRs).

Locate potential water ice on the

surace, image shadowed areas, andmap potential landing areas in PSRs.

CRaTER

Cosmic Ray Tele-

scope or the Eects

o Radiation

Lunar and deep space radia-

tion environment and tissue

equivalent plastic response

to radiation.

Sae, lighter weight space vehicles.

Radiation environment or human

presences at the moon and journeys

to Mars and beyond.

Radiation boundary conditions

or biological response. Map

radiation refected rom lunar

surace.

Mini-RF

Technology

Demonstration

X- and S-band radar imaging

and intererometry.

Demonstrate new lightweight SAR

and communication technologies,

locate potential water ice.

Source, history, deposition

o polar volatiles.

From Earth, we always see the same side

o the moon.


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27/4423

Treasure Hunting on the Moon: LRO and the Search or WaterA bottle o one o the most expensive brands o water costs $40 and is presented in a rosted glass container decorated withcrystal. On the moon, a bottle o water would run about $50,000 and orget about that heavy crystal glass. Tat is becauseit costs around $50,000 per pound to launch anything to the moon. Discovering water on the moon would be like ndinga gold mine.

In act, scientists have discovered evidence or water or hydrogen, a component o water, in special places on the moon. Sincethe moon is not tilted much rom its rotation axis, the depths o certain craters in the lunar poles may not have seen the sunor billions o years. Te long night over these areas, called Permanently Shaded Regions (PSRs), will have made them verycold and able to trap water molecules as ice or hydrogen.

However, with almost no atmosphere, most o the moon is drier than the driest terrestrial desert. How could water get on themoon in the rst place? Some scientists believe water vapor rom past comet impacts has migrated across the lunar surace to thepoles to become embedded in the soil at the bottom o these dark craters. Others believe hydrogen was also embedded in thelunar soil in these polar cold traps over time. Te hydrogen comes rom the sun and is carried to the moon by the solar wind, athin gas that is continuously blowing o o the solar surace and lls the entire solar system. Most o the solar wind is hydrogen.

Among its many missions, the spacecrat will help identiy the most likely places to nd hydrogen or ice deposits on the moon.

Lunar water could be used or more than just drinking. It could be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen or use as rocketuel and breathable air. Even sucient concentrations o hydrogen by itsel would be valuable, because it could be used asuel or combined with oxygen rom the soil to make water.

With launch costs so high, it could be much cheaper to mine the moon or hydrogen or ice than to haul water up romEarth. Naturally, this assumes there is enough o this resource there, and it is technically easible to mine. As useul as lunarwater deposits would be, without evidence that they exist, they are just wishul thinking by mission planners.

Clementine, a small probe launched by NASA and the U.S. Department o Deense in 1994, gave the rst piece o evidence.

Te probe directed a radio transmitter toward the lunar polar regions, and antennas at Earth picked up the refections. Moreevidence came in 1998 rom NASAs Lunar Prospector mission. Te measurement used the presence o hydrogen as a signo potential ice deposits. Te moon is constantly hit by cosmic rays, particles moving at almost the speed o light that comerom explosions on the sun and in space. Tese particles strike the lunar soil and, like the break at the start o a pool game,create a shower o other particles. Neutrons, a component o the center o atoms, are among these particles, and some fyback out into space.

Tese neutrons were detected by an instrument on Lunar Prospector. Te neutrons scattered back into space normally havea wide range o speeds. However, i the neutrons hit hydrogen atoms in the lunar soil beore being ejected into space, theimpacts will quickly slow them down.

As Lunar Prospector scanned the lunar surace, its neutron counters recorded the number o neutrons moving at speeds inthe middle o the range. Over the polar regions, the counters detected a decrease in the number o neutrons moving at mid-range speeds. Tis meant that many neutrons were being suddenly slowed by impacts with hydrogen, so there is probablya concentration o hydrogen or even water ice somewhere in the lunar poles.

However, the measurements could not tell whether the deposits were hydrogen or ice, nor did they have the resolution toaccurately locate the deposits within the polar zones. LRO will be able to do both.

LRO has a camera system with both wide-angle and high-resolution cameras, called the Lunar Reconnaissance OrbiterCamera (LROC). As LRO orbits over the poles, the moon rotates beneath the spacecrat, and the cameras will gradually


28/4424

build up a detailed picture o the region. Scientists using LROC will combine the images it takes during a year in orbit tomake a movie that reveals regions in permanent shadowed. Tese areas will be the most promising places to search or ice.

Te spacecrat also has a neutron detector with much better resolution than Lunar Prospectors, called the Lunar Explora-tion Neutron Detector (LEND). Te detector can locate hydrogen deposits to an area about 10 kilometers (about 6.2 miles)across. Tis is smaller than the estimated size o most PSRs.

LEND will be able to detect hydrogen or ice that is buried up to about a meter (3.2 eet) below the surace. Te deposits are

expected to gradually be buried by material thrown out rom tiny micrometeorite impacts that constantly bombard the moon.

LROs Diviner instrument measures temperature. It will be directed at the PSRs to see i they are really cold enough to traphydrogen or water molecules or billions o years.

PSR temperature depends on the shape and depth o the craters. Although the bottoms may be in permanent shadow, thesun is likely to rise high enough to appear over the rims and illuminate the sides. Sunlight refected rom the sides couldstrike the bottom and warm it enough so that any ice would evaporate beore it can be buried.

LRO includes a laser ranging system that will build an elevation map to show the contours o the polar craters. Te instru-ment, called the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA), records the time it takes or a laser pulse to travel rom the space-crat to the lunar surace and back to calculate the height o the lunar terrain. Ater a year in orbit aboard LRO, LOLA willhave created an elevation map o the polar regions that is accurate to within a hal-meter (20 inches) vertically and 50 meters(about 160 eet) horizontally. It will be used to rule out craters with the wrong shape to store hydrogen or ice.

PSRs will, o course, be dark. Te job o LROs Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) is to see in the dark. It is sensitiveenough to make pictures o the crater depths using refected light rom stars and glowing interstellar gas (actually a specictype o ultraviolet light, called Lyman Alpha, which like all ultraviolet light is invisible to the human eye). Also, any ice onthe surace o the PSRs will leave a distinct imprint in the refected light, denitively revealing its presence.

An experimental radio transmitter and receiver on board LRO, called Mini-RF, also could detect ice deposits on the suraceand beneath it as well. Ice deposits will change the refected radio signal in a specic way, revealing their presence.

Multiple instruments are the power o the LRO mission. LRO can iner that water or hydrogen is present with severalindependent techniques.

Robot Scout: Fly Me (Saely) to the Moon

Te rst attempt to land humans on the moon Apollo 11 was a triumph that almost ended in disaster. At just 400 eetrom the lunar surace, with only about a minutes worth o uel remaining, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin BuzzAldrin saw that their ships computer was taking them directly into a crater the size o a ootball eld, strewn with SUV-sizedboulders. Tey quickly took control rom the computer, few over the crater, and touched down in a smoother area beyond,

cutting the engine with just 30 seconds o uel on the readout.

As good as they were or their time (1960s), NASAs navigation capabilities werent good enough to avoid this nasty surprise.Te landings or NASAs return to the moon are likely to be even more challenging. Mission planners want to be able to setdown on the edge o enormous craters in the polar regions, because the crater rims will be bathed in gentle but nearly-perma-nent sunlight. Steady sunshine provides a reliable source o power or long-term expeditions.

NASAs LRO instruments will work together to build a complete, detailed picture o potential landing sites. In general, goodlanding sites need to be level and ree rom large boulders that could damage or tip the spacecrat as it attempts to land. But theyalso need to be close to interesting areas, either or exploration and science, or or access to resources. Te Apollo missions were


29/4425

pure exploration and science, and landed at various sites near the lunar equator. NASAs return to the moon is more ambitious,and planners are aiming at the poles not just or the science, but or the potential to use the moons resources to live o the land.

Te rst task is to get a good look at the poles. LRO eatures a camera, called the Wide Angle Camera (WAC), which will usecolor lters to give inormation on possible resources based on the colors refected rom the lunar surace. It will also com-bine the images it takes throughout a year in orbit to make a movie that reveals areas getting the most sunlight, including anyPermanently Illuminated Regions. Te movie will also show the regions in permanent shadow, called PSRs. Tese very coldareas will be the most promising places to search or hydrogen or ice.

LRO also carries a pair o eagle-eyed cameras, called the Narrow Angle Cameras (NACs), which together can take imagesthat reveal details as small as a meter (almost 40 inches) over swaths 10 kilometers (about 6.2 miles) wide. As LRO orbitsover the poles, the moon rotates beneath the spacecrat, and the NACs gradually build up a detailed picture o the region.It will be used to identiy landing zones ree o large boulders and craters, allowing astronauts to avoid surprises like thoseduring Apollo 11.

LRO will use data rom another instrument that measures temperatures to doublecheck the sae zone map. emperatureschange more slowly in areas with loose materials (lots o rocks), because the loose material is not well connected to the sur-ace. By analyzing how quickly temperatures change in potential landing zones, planners using the instrument, namedDiviner, can rule out areas that appear smooth but actually are likely to be rocky.

Astronauts also want to avoid places with steep slopes that could tip the spacecrat, so LRO includes a laser ranging system thatwill build an elevation map to show the contours o the polar surace. Te instrument, called LOLA, records the time it takesor a laser pulse to travel rom the spacecrat to the lunar surace and back to calculate the height o the lunar terrain. Ater ayear in orbit aboard LRO, LOLA will have created an elevation map o the polar regions that is accurate to within a hal-meter(almost 20 inches) vertically and 50 meters (about 160 eet) horizontally.

LOLA will also be used to doublecheck surace roughness. I the surace is smooth, the refected laser signal will sharply risein intensity. I it is rough, the signal will be ragged; the intensity will go up and down as the laser scatters o o rocks at di-erent angles.

However, in order to precisely calculate LROs distance rom the lunar surace, scientists have to know its position in spaceaccurately. Mission scientists will track LRO with two techniques, one using radio transmissions rom the spacecrat mea-sured by a dedicated antenna at NASAs White Sands est Facility, Las Cruces, N.M., complemented by measurements romantennas at other stations. Te second tracking method uses lasers red at the spacecrat rom Goddard.


30/4426

LCROSS Mission Overview

Earths closest neighbor, the moon, is holding a secret. In 1999, hints o this secret were revealed in the orm o concentratedhydrogen signatures detected in permanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles by NASAs Lunar Prospector. Tese read-ings may be an indication o lunar water and could have ar-reaching implications as humans expand exploration past low-Earth orbit. Te LCROSS mission is seeking a denitive answer.

In April 2006, NASA selected the LCROSS proposal or a low-cost, ast-track companion mission, scheduled to launch in2009. Te main LCROSS mission objective is to conrm i and in what orm water may exist in one o these permanentlyshadowed craters.

LCROSS is scheduled to launch with the LRO aboard an Atlas V rocket rom Cape Canaveral, Fla., in 2009. Ater launch,LRO will separate rom LCROSS and continue on to the moon. Te LCROSS (shepherding) spacecrat will retain the AtlasVs Centaur upper stage rocket and use it as the primary impactor or the mission, something that has never been done witha Centaur. Ater sucient distance rom LRO is achieved, the shepherding spacecrat and the Centaur will perorm a blow-down maneuver to vent any remaining uel inside the Centaur to help prevent contamination o the impact site.

Five days later, the shepherding spacecrat and the Centaur will execute a fyby o the moon and enter into an elongated

Earth orbit to position LCROSS or impact on a lunar pole. Tis elongated orbit portion o the mission is expected to beour months. Te exact length o time is dependent on the exact time o launch and is calculated to satisy a number o com-peting mission constraints, including hitting a specic target crater, timing the impact to achieve proper illumination o thedebris plume at the time o impact, and staying within spacecrat propellant limits.

On nal approach, LCROSS and the Centaur will separate. Te Centaur will act as the rst impactor to create a debrisplume with some o the heavier material reaching a height o up to 6.2 miles (10 km) above the lunar surace. Following ourminutes behind, the LCROSS will fy through the debris plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth beore impactingthe lunar surace and creating a second debris plume.

Lunar orbiting satellites and Earth-based telescopes on the ground and in orbit will observe the impacts and resulting debris

plumes. Te impacts are expected to be visible rom Earth using telescopes 10-to-12 inches and larger. Data rom these mul-tiple sources will be used in preparation or the eventual return o humans to the moon.

Te LCROSS science payload consists o two near-inrared spectrometers, a visible light spectrometer, two mid-inrared cam-eras, two near-inrared cameras, a visible camera, and a visible radiometer. Te LCROSS instrument payload was designed toprovide mission scientists with multiple complementary views o the debris plume created by the Centaur impact.

As the debris plume rises above the target craters rim, it is exposed to sunlight and any water ice, hydrocarbons, or organ-ics will vaporize and break down into their basic components. Tese components primarily will be monitored by the visibleand inrared spectrometers. Te near-inrared and mid-inrared cameras will determine the total amount and distribution owater in the debris plume. Te spacecrats visible camera will track the impact location and the behavior o the debris plume

while the visible photometer will measure the fash created by the Centaur impact.

LCROSS is a ast-paced, low-cost, mission that leverages select NASA fight-ready systems, commercial-o-the-shel com-ponents, the spacecrat expertise o Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, Cali, and the experiencegained rom NASAs Lunar Prospector mission. NASA Ames Research Center, Moett Field, Cali, is managing the mission,conducting mission operations, and developing the payload instruments, while Northrop Grumman designed and built thespacecrat or this innovative mission. Ames mission scientists will spearhead the data collection and analysis.


31/4427

LCROSS Mission at a Glance

LRO and LCROSS launch together rom Cape Canaveral. Ater sucient distance romLRO is achieved, the shepherding spacecrat and the Centaur will perorm a blowdownmaneuver to vent any remaining uel inside the Centaur to help prevent contaminationo the impact site.

Five days ater launch, the spacecrat and Centaur fy by the moon and enter into aLunar Gravity Assist, Lunar Return Orbit (LGALRO) to position it or impact with thetarget lunar pole. Each LGALRO takes approximately 37 days.

On nal approach to the moon, less than 10 hours beore impact, the shepherdingspacecrat and Centaur separate. LCROSS perorms a braking maneuver to createseparation and rotates 180 degrees to point its instrument payload toward the moon.

Te spacecrat collects data on the Centaur impact fash and resulting debris plume andrelays it back to LCROSS Mission Control. Four minutes later, the LCROSS spacecratimpacts the lunar surace creating a second debris plume.

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong

became the frst human being

to set oot on the moon.


32/4428

The Search or Water on the Moon

I water exists on the moon, it arrived the same way water did on Earth. Trough billions o years o bombardment by mete-ors and comets, water or the components o water were deposited on the Earth and the moon. Since the moons gravity is lessthan one th o Earths gravity, the moon has practically no atmosphere. Any light elements or compounds deposited on themoons surace are subject to direct exposure to the vacuum o space and solar radiation.

Te lunar day is about 29 Earth days. With daylight temperatures reaching up to 250 Fahrenheit (121 C), any water iceexposed to sunlight or any length o time would turn into water vapor, break apart and be lost to space.

At the lunar poles, the sun never rises above certain crater rims and thereore these crater foors may not have seen sunlightor billions o years. With temperature estimated to be near minus 328 Fahrenheit (200 C), these craters can cold trapor capture most volatiles.

Science Objectives

Te moon is the most prominent object in our night sky yet more is known about Mars than the most parts o the moon.What is known about the moon is gathered by Earth-based telescopes and rom the Apollo missions and small lunar roboticmissions. In the 1990s, two o these small robotic missions, Clementine and Lunar Prospector, ound evidence o possible water

ice at the lunar poles. Unortunately, the evidence is not conclusive. Te LCROSS mission seeks a denitive answer to thequestion o lunar water. I water is present, it could present a valuable resource in the human quest to explore the solar system.

Te main science objectives or the LCROSS mission include the ollowing: Conrmthepresenceorabsenceofwatericeinapermanentlyshadowedregiononthemoon.

Identifythecauseofthehydrogensignaturesdetectedatthelunarpoles.

Determinetheamountofwater,ifpresent,inthelunarregolithorsoil.

Determinethecompositionoftheregolithinoneofthemoonspermanentlyshadowedcrater.

Te LCROSS mission will be the rst in situ, or in-place study, o these pristine permanently shadowed craters.

Te primary goal o LCROSS is to measure the concentration o water ice (ice to dust ratio) in permanently shadowed lunarregolith or soil. When the Centaur, weighing up to 5,216 pounds (2366 kg) or about the weight o a large sports utility vehi-cle, impacts the foor o a permanently shadowed crater at 1.55 miles per second (2.5 km/s,) there is an initial fash ollowedby the creation o a debris plume. I water ice is present on the foor o the crater, it will be thrown skyward. Once above thecrater rim, it will be exposed to solar radiation breaking the molecules o water into hydrogen ions and hydroxyl ions.

Te LCROSS spacecrat, ollowing our minutes behind, will collect and transmit data back to LCROSS Mission Controlabout the debris plume using the nine onboard science instruments beore impacting the surace. A possible result o botho the impacts is the creation o a temporary thin atmosphere o hydroxyl ions. Tis resulting atmosphere could be detectableusing telescopes on and orbiting the Earth and satellites in lunar orbit.

LCROSS Impactso maximize the creation o a debris plume, the impacts o the Centaur rocket and the LCROSS shepherding spacecrat needsucient speed and a high angle o impact. Engineers have estimated that the Centaur and LCROSS spacecrat will impactthe lunar surace at approximately 1.55 miles per second (2.5 km/s), ve times aster than a bullet red rom a .44 Magnum.Te projected angle o impact is approximately 80 degrees with respect to the lunar surace.


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o achieve this high angle o impact, the LCROSS spacecrat and the Centaur will execute a fyby o the moon approxi-mately ve days ater launch entering into an extended LGALRO. Tis portion o the mission is expected to be our months.Te exact length o the LGALRO is dependent on exact time o launch and is calculated to satisy a number o missionconstraints including achieving the targeted crater and the correct phase and tilt o the moon or proper illumination o thedebris plume at the time o impact.

At launch, the LCROSS team will announce the lunar pole and the primary target crater. Factoring any additional inorma-tion, a nal determination o the target crater will be made 30 days beore impact.

On nal approach to the moon, the LCROSS spacecrat and the Centaur will separate. Te shepherding spacecrat will per-orm a braking maneuver and will reorient to point the instrument payload to capture the Centaur impact. Ater the Cen-taur impacts, the LCROSS spacecrat will have up to our minutes o data collection and transmit that data back to LCROSSMission Control.

LCROSS is required to achieve a targeting accuracy o approximately 6.2 miles (10 km) radius, but is expected to be signicantlymore accurate (0.75 or 1.2 km radius).

Te Centaur impact crater is expected to be approximately 90 eet (27 m) in diameter by 16 eet (5 m) deep, while theLCROSS spacecrat impact crater is expected to be approximately 60 eet (18 m) in diameter by 10 eet (3 m) deep. Teimpact is expected to create a very brie visible fash that will last less than 100 milliseconds. Most o the excavated materialor ejecta will be thrown upward at a velocity o more than 820 eet per second (250 m/sec.)

Studies using the Ames Vertical Gun Range indicate the LCROSS impacts will create a signicantly larger crater than LunarProspector (LP) that impacted the moon at 1 mile/sec (1.7 km/sec) with a mass o 348 pounds (158 kg) at a glancing angleo 6 degrees.

The age o the oldest moon rock

collected is 4.5 billion years old.

The rocks collected by Apollo

astronauts weigh in at 842 pounds

(382 kg).


34/4430

LCROSS Science Instruments

Ater LCROSS was accepted to fy as a companion mission to the LRO, the LCROSS payload team conducted an exten-sive process to select the components needed or an eective science payload. Te payload team assembled a set o instru-ments that could collect data rom dierent eatures o the Centaur impact but would be complementary to each other.Tis maximizes the science return by providing redundancy and robustness.

Te science payload consists o a total o nine instruments consisting o one visible, two near inrared, and two mid-inra-red cameras; one visible and two near-inrared spectrometers; and a photometer. A data handling unit (DHU) collects theinormation rom each instrument or transmission back to LCROSS Mission Control. Due to the schedule and budgetconstraints, the LCROSS team took ull advantage o available rugged, commercially available components.

Although the selected instruments are considered rugged or their intended uses on Earth, space is a harsh environment.Te LCROSS payload team put the individual instruments though a rigorous testing cycle that simulated launch and theconditions o space. Te team identied design weakness and modications or space use and worked with the manuac-turers to strengthen their designs. Te payload was assembled and underwent additional tests to determine how the systemworked together. Once the payload met all testing criteria and the team was satised, it was shipped to Northrop Grum-man, Redondo Beach, Cali., or integration into the LCROSS spacecrat.

Instrument checkout and calibration will be perormed during the swing-by o the moon 5 days ater launch. One hourprior to impact, instruments will be powered on and will return data until impact o the spacecrat.

LCROSS Payload Science Instrument Provider Measurement

Visible Camera

(1 total)Ecliptic Enterprises

Visiblecontextimagery

Monitorejectacloudmorphology

Determinevisiblegrainproperties

Near Inrared Cameras

(2 total)Goodrich Sensors Unlimited

NIR(0.91.7um)contextimagery

Monitorejectacloudmorphology

DetermineNIRgrainproperties

Mapwaterconcentration

Mid-Inrared Cameras

(2 total)

Thermoteknix (black case)

Indigo (gold case)

MIR(6.013.5um)thermalimage Monitortheejectacloudmorphology

DetermineMIRgrainproperties

Measurethermalevolutionofejectacloud

Imagetheremnantcrater

Visible Spectrometer

(1 total)Ocean Optics

Visible(263650nm)emissionandreectance

spectrometry o vapor plume, ejecta cloud

Measuregrainproperties

MeasureemissionH2O vapor dissociation,

OH- (308 nm) and H2O+(619nm) fuorescence

Near Inrared

Spectrometers(2 total)

Polychromix

NIR(1.22.4um)emissionandreectance

spectrometry o vapor plume, ejecta cloud

Measuregrainproperties MeasurebroadH2O ice eatures

Measurewatervaporabsorptionbycloud

particles with occultation viewer

Total Luminance

Photometer (TLP)

(1 total)

NASA Ames Research

Center

Measurestotalimpactashluminance

(4001,000 nm), magnitude, and decay o

luminance curve

Data Handling Unit (DHU)

(1 total)Ecliptic Enterprises Instrumentcontrolanddataacquisition


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R6 Panel: LCROSS Science Payload

op View

A Payload Observation Deck (POD)B otal Luminance Photometer (LP) Digital Electronics Module (DEM)C Data Handling Unit (DHU)D Visible Spectrometer (VSP)E Near Inrared Spectrometer 1 (NSP1)F Near Inrared Spectrometer 2 (NSP2)

The moons highest mountains are

5.6 miles high (9 km).

The lunar day (or the time rom sunrise

to sunrise) on the moon is approximately

708 hours (29.5 days).


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LCROSS Science Payload

Observation Deck (POD)

G Near Inrared Spectrometer 2 (NSP2) Nadir Fore-OpticsH Near Inrared Spectrometer 1 (NSP1) Nadir Fore-OpticsI Visible Spectrometer (VSP) Nadir Fore-Optics J Mid-Inrared Camera 2 (MIR2)K Mid-Inrared Camera 1 (MIR1)L Visible Camera (VIS)M Near Inrared Camera 1 (NIR1)N Near Inrared Camera 2 (NIR2)O otal Luminance Photometer (LP)

Cleaning crew preparing LCROSS instrument payload or

shipment to Northrop Grumman.

The surace area o the moon

is 37,914,000 square km.

I you weigh 120 pounds, you

would weigh only 20 pounds

on the moon.


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LCROSS Spacecrat

LCROSS is a ast-track, low-cost, companion mission to the LRO. Te LCROSS mission takes advantage o the structuralcapabilities o the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) ring used to attach LRO to the Cen-taur upper stage rocket. Mounted on the outside o the ESPA are six panels that hold the spacecrats science payload, commandand control systems, communications equipment, batteries, and solar panels. A small monopropellant-propulsion system ismounted inside o the ring. Also attached to the ring are two S-Band omni antennas, and two medium-gain antennas.

Te missions strict schedule, mass, and budget constraints orced engineering teams rom NASA Ames Research Centerand Northrop Grumman to think outside-the-box. Tis thinking led to a unique use o the ESPA ring and innovativesourcing o other spacecrat components. Usually, the ESPA ring is used as a platorm to hold six small deployable satel-lites; or LCROSS, it became the backbone o the satellite, a rst or the ring. LCROSS also takes advantage o commer-cially available instruments and uses many o the already fight-veried components used on LRO.

Te NASA Ames Research Center, Moett Field, Cali., is overseeing the development o the LCROSS mission. NorthropGrumman, Redondo Beach, Cali., the LCROSS spacecrat and integration partner, designed and built the spacecrat orthis innovative mission.

Solar Array (not shown)

R1 Panel

Science Instruments

R6 Panel

Batteries

R2 Panel

Propellant Tank

ESPA Ring

Star Tracker

Power Control

Electronics

R3 Panel

Attitude Control

and Communications

Electronics

R4 Panel

Command and Data

Handling Electronics

R5 Panel

The moon has no signifcant

atmosphere or clouds.

There are no active volcanoes

on the moon.


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LV Launch Vehicle

TCM Trajectory Correction Maneuver

SciCal Science Payload Calibration

SS/C Shepherding Spacecrat

LCROSS Mission Timeline

Pre-launch Launch Phase

Cruise Phase

Final Targeting Phase Impact Phase

Transfer Phase

LVAscent

CentaurSeparation

CentaurImpact

S-S/CImpact

BrakingBurn

DataCollection

ParkOrbitCoast

CentaurVenting &Re-Target

LROInject/Sep

Activation

Day 0

SciCal-1 TCM-5 TCM-6a TCM-7 TCM-8

TCM-9

Timp

-72 hrs Timp

-11 hrs Timp

-9h 40m Timp

-9hrs Timp

-56 min Timp

+4 minT=0

TCM-10

TCM-6b TCM-6cSciCal-2SciCal-3

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7

CheckoutQuickLook

SciCalStarField

SciCal

TCM-1 TCM-2 TCM-3 LunarSwingby

TCM-4

S

S S S

S S

The Lunar Prospector spacecrat ound

evidence that suggests water ice may be

present in the permanently shadowed areas

o the lunar poles.


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Future NASA Lunar Missions

2011 GRAIL (orbiter)

NASAs Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) is slated or launch in 2011. GRAIL will fy twin spacecrat,one behind the other, around the moon or several months to make highly detailed measurements o the moons gravityeld needed to understand the moons structure and dynamics. Scientists plan to use GRAILs measurements to providegravity maps that will greatly acilitate NASAs planned human and robotic landings on the moon in the next decade. Te

moons poles and ar side, where uture moon landings are targeted, are the least understood areas in a gravitational sense.2012 LADEE (orbiter)

Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer is a NASA mission that will orbit the moon. Its main objective is tocharacterize the atmosphere and lunar dust environment. In addition to the science objectives, the mission will be testinga new spacecrat architecture called the Modular Common Bus, which is being developed by NASA as a fexible, low-cost, rapid turnaround spacecrat or both orbiting and landing on the moon and other deep space targets.

Program/Project Oversight

Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, is responsible or programmatic oversight o the LRO and

LCROSS missions. Te LRO mission will transition to the Science Mission Directorate in 2010.

LRO is a NASA mission with international participation rom the Institute or Space Research in Moscow. Russia pro-vides the neutron detector aboard the spacecrat. NASA is also utilizing science data rom the Japan Aerospace ExplorationAgencys Kaguya lunar orbiter mission, which will enhance the LCROSS mission and the scientic return rom LRO.

Te Lunar Precursor Robotic Program Oce, Marshall Space Flight Center, provides programmatic oversight and manage-ment or LRO and LCROSS missions. Te LRO Project Oce, Goddard Space Flight Center, manages and coordinatesday-to-day support or LRO mission development and mission science operations. LCROSS Project Oce, Ames ResearchCenter, coordinates day-to-day support or the LCROSS mission including mission development and science and missionoperations. Media Services Division, Kennedy Space Center manages launch preparations and operations. Kennedy manages

launch-period NASA V coverage and media relations activities, in coordination with Goddard and Ames Public Aairs.

Only 12 people have ever walked on the

surace o the moon.


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National Aeronautics and Space Administration

George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Huntsville, AL 35812

www.nasa.gov/marshall

lunar reconnaissance orbiter lunar crater observation and sensing satellite press kit

Documents