LRO development |
LRO development |
May 2 2005, 01:31 AM
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#1
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2262 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Melbourne - Oz Member No.: 16 |
Just read this interesting article about LRO
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/28apr_lro.htm QUOTE "This is the first in a string of missions," says Gordon Chin, project scientist for LRO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "More robots will follow, about one per year, leading up to manned flight" no later than 2020." One per Year? Is this just wishful thinking or have any tentitve plans been mentioned for follow up missions after LRO? If the next one is going to be 2009/10 then I guess some desisions about it will have to be made fairly soon. James -------------------- |
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Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
May 10 2006, 08:49 AM
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#2
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Guests |
I've got some genuinely reliable and wholly unambiguous inside info on this (not like the somewhat ambiguous stuff on which I recently made a disastrously mistaken interpretation where the LCROSS lunar impactor mission was concerned). But I'm not yet free to talk about the details. Suffice it to say that RLEP-2 is getting scaled WAY, WAY back to a rationally-sized spacecraft (without any major science downsizing), and that there is also some reconsideration of its science goals besides its hunt for polar ice -- with increased emphasis on lunar dust problems being, as I had hoped, a new high-ranked goal.
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May 11 2006, 02:46 PM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 321 Joined: 6-April 06 From: Cape Canaveral Member No.: 734 |
I've got some genuinely reliable and wholly unambiguous inside info on this (not like the somewhat ambiguous stuff on which I recently made a disastrously mistaken interpretation where the LCROSS lunar impactor mission was concerned). But I'm not yet free to talk about the details. Suffice it to say that RLEP-2 is getting scaled WAY, WAY back to a rationally-sized spacecraft (without any major science downsizing), and that there is also some reconsideration of its science goals besides its hunt for polar ice -- with increased emphasis on lunar dust problems being, as I had hoped, a new high-ranked goal. I heard it was going to be Delta II class. But I think it will have the same problem as LRO did flying on a spinning 3rd stage |
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Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
May 11 2006, 08:51 PM
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#4
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Guests |
I heard it was going to be Delta II class. But I think it will have the same problem as LRO did flying on a spinning 3rd stage I haven't heard anything about returning it to a Delta 2 launch -- but I can safely say that it will be MUCH smaller than that gargantuan thing they were talking about previously. Interesting possibility: if -- as I presume -- they launch it on an EELV, will there be enough extra payload capacity to carry two of these landers on the same booster? |
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May 12 2006, 12:15 AM
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#5
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Member Group: Members Posts: 321 Joined: 6-April 06 From: Cape Canaveral Member No.: 734 |
I haven't heard anything about returning it to a Delta 2 launch -- but I can safely say that it will be MUCH smaller than that gargantuan thing they were talking about previously. Interesting possibility: if -- as I presume -- they launch it on an EELV, will there be enough extra payload capacity to carry two of these landers on the same booster? Depends on $. How many solids will it take? Two LRO's could not fly on a standard Medium EELV. It would have to be one of the Intermediate versions |
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