GRAIL: New DISCOVERY mission to the moon |
GRAIL: New DISCOVERY mission to the moon |
Dec 11 2007, 10:02 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 544 Joined: 17-November 05 From: Oklahoma Member No.: 557 |
According to Space.com, the final selection has been made for the next DISCOVERY mission.
It will be the GRAIL lunar gravity mapping mission. Space.com article Edit: Just noticed that Norm Hartnett posted an official link earlier on the KAGUYA topic: NASA |
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Dec 12 2007, 06:26 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 599 Joined: 26-August 05 Member No.: 476 |
Recalling what happened to Discovery 11, it's good that Discovery 12 has completed selection.
It will be interesting to see how much is budgeted for launch as it appears that it will be too expensive to keep Delta II for 2011. As pointed out in another thread, Landsat DCM moved from a Delta II to an Atlas V 401 for that very reason. Landsat DCM is scheduled for July 2011 and its launch was contracted a few months ago. For the same lead time, the GRAIL launch would have to be contracted soon. Given that Falcon 1 has not proved itself, it seems likely that GRAIL will use an EELV. GRAIL mass was not mentioned in the release and articles, but I am just thinking of the LCROSS addition when LRO moved to an Atlas V and whether there is another opportunity like that here. |
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