Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: kscvideos Jun 22 2009, 12:39 PM

Cool video produced by NASA Public Affairs, no ads.
Enjoy

LRO-LCROSS Webcast Part 1 of 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EDMGH1Esq4

LRO-LCROSS Webcast Part 2 of 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1u7tX_4TyI

Posted by: mars loon Jun 23 2009, 12:30 AM

Live video feed start at approximately 5:20 a.m. PDT on Tuesday, June 23, 2009.

NASA TV plans live coverage of LRO orbit insertion starting at 5 AM

Posted by: Zvezdichko Jun 23 2009, 06:16 AM

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/lcross-lunar-swingby/index.html

Real-time images from LCROSS

Posted by: Stu Jun 23 2009, 08:07 AM

... that's 2.20pm BST I reckon. Seriously, when I rule the world I'm going to pass a law that makes everyone who gives a time for an event also give the time of that event in GMT or BST, in brackets, after "EST", "PDT", "Mountain Hillbilly Time" or "Huh! Hammer Time!"

Posted by: Zvezdichko Jun 23 2009, 08:15 AM

Seconded!

Posted by: djellison Jun 23 2009, 09:13 AM

1:20pm BST I reckon.

Apart from the few odd weeks when the UK's switch to summer time, but the US hasn't - then Eastern is -5, Pacific is -8.

5.20am Pacific, plus 8, is 1.20 pm UK.

5:10 a.m. PDT (1:10 p.m. GMT) is, I'm fairly sure....WRONG . 5.10 PDT is 12.10 GMT, 1.10pm BST. NOT 1.10pm GMT.

Posted by: dmuller Jun 23 2009, 09:20 AM

Thirded

And just to complain a little more, it took me ages to realize that ET is not (always) Eastern Time but Ephemeris Time.

So the transmission starts at 5:21:06 am ET EDT ERT

Posted by: djellison Jun 23 2009, 09:21 AM

Oh - and...
"5 - 6:30 a.m. - LRO Spacecraft Enters Lunar Orbit - Live Event - GSFC (Public, Media and HD Channel)"

It's 5.20 am Eastern now...but this hasn't started.

So I'm very confused.

(no longer confused - coverage is just about to start)

Posted by: dmuller Jun 23 2009, 09:28 AM

It's about to start now .... 5:20am EDT ... as indicated on Twitter. LCROSS I think is at 5:20 PDT

EDIT: LRO coverage has started on NTV media channel

EDIT2: Apologies I havent been able to create a realtime simulation for it ... a very interesting side effect of using javascripts in there is that the times are automatically converted into local time! I will try for LCROSS, but cant promise

Posted by: Zvezdichko Jun 23 2009, 09:49 AM

http://lroupdate.blogspot.com/

Burn process has started, but NASA TV is silent here...

Posted by: djellison Jun 23 2009, 09:50 AM

NTV silent here also.

Tried restarting NTV - and sound is back.

Posted by: dmuller Jun 23 2009, 09:52 AM

good blog. twitter not updating. nasa tv sound is very weak

EDIT ... NTV try media channel. seems better than public channel

Posted by: Zvezdichko Jun 23 2009, 10:13 AM

Past stable capture point passed

Posted by: Zvezdichko Jun 23 2009, 10:28 AM

Burn process completed successfully.

Posted by: Zvezdichko Jun 23 2009, 11:53 AM

LCROSS - Video emissions just started, but we're getting at the moment only live-telementry based graphics. No real-time pics from the moon yet

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/lcross-lunar-swingby/index.html

Posted by: FordPrefect Jun 23 2009, 12:20 PM

First images streaming in!

Posted by: Zvezdichko Jun 23 2009, 12:21 PM

http://img44.imageshack.us/i/lcrosstelemetrylive1.png/


The first pictures of the moon appeared!

Posted by: djellison Jun 23 2009, 12:22 PM

Just figured out how to screen-grab a very long movie on my Mac for this thing....and BINGO - the pictures have started!

Posted by: Hungry4info Jun 23 2009, 12:25 PM

Are you going to record it?

Posted by: Zvezdichko Jun 23 2009, 12:27 PM

http://img146.imageshack.us/i/lcrosstelemetrylive2.png/

Posted by: ugordan Jun 23 2009, 12:29 PM

You gotta love the automatic gain setting on that rocketcam...

EDIT: Lol, "execute payload auto-gain OFF" "compiling, 0 errors, 0 warnings... GO to send"

That's what I call real-time commanding!

Posted by: djellison Jun 23 2009, 12:35 PM

That is the point It's slow and painfull at the moment - but if it works and I can run it back at 10x speed or something - it'll be a hell of a view

Sounds like they're sending up commands to tweak the cameras.

Posted by: Hungry4info Jun 23 2009, 12:36 PM

Apparently, I've gotten spoiled with Kaguya images.
Still, this is pretty awesome.

Posted by: Zvezdichko Jun 23 2009, 12:36 PM

Some people will say that there are better-looking images from telescopic observations. This is true, of course, but the images we're getting have a great value - we see that the cameras are functional and working well. In October we're going to see much more.

Posted by: dmuller Jun 23 2009, 12:38 PM

Managed to quickly create a LCROSS realtime simulation:
http://www.dmuller.net/realtime/realtime.php?mission=lcross

I have not yet been able to verify the trajectory data but the output seems reasonable

Posted by: Hungry4info Jun 23 2009, 12:40 PM

Currently taking a screen shot once a minute, to connect all together later as a gif Don't know how it'll work out.

Posted by: ugordan Jun 23 2009, 12:40 PM

Call me crazy, but these commanding sequences and readbacks on the fly are more exciting than the visual light camera. Looks like the auto-gain OFF was for NIR cameras only.

Posted by: Hungry4info Jun 23 2009, 12:42 PM

Heck I'm not complaining. I don't see this part of the moon very often with my telescope anyway

Posted by: belleraphon1 Jun 23 2009, 12:43 PM

Yes, please do... at my work site they have flash disabled on our pc's ... I see nothing but black screen

Craig

Posted by: Zvezdichko Jun 23 2009, 12:48 PM

I did it for you - not the best quality, but anyway

Posted by: dmuller Jun 23 2009, 12:49 PM

DEFINITELY!

Posted by: ugordan Jun 23 2009, 12:55 PM

If only the slews would take the brightest portion of the disc across camera FOV center, we might get a decently exposed image.


... or not.

Posted by: Stu Jun 23 2009, 12:57 PM

Loving this! V v v cool! Who else is pretending they're approaching the Moon in an Apollo?

Posted by: dmuller Jun 23 2009, 01:07 PM

I hope they will have this for the lunar impact on 9 Oct!

Posted by: Zvezdichko Jun 23 2009, 01:11 PM

This is my latest set of images:

http://img222.imageshack.us/i/lcrosstelemetry2.png/

Posted by: djellison Jun 23 2009, 01:11 PM

Just you Stu The downlink is finished as far as I can tell - going to see what the video looks like now

Posted by: ugordan Jun 23 2009, 01:13 PM

Oddly enough, the frames still keep changing. I thought they could be buffered on the ground, but how much buffer would this make? 16 kbits doesn't allow for a lot...

Posted by: Hungry4info Jun 23 2009, 01:16 PM

I'm unable to see any changes over the past few minutes.

Posted by: ugordan Jun 23 2009, 01:18 PM

There are occasional bleeds of the overexposed regions, something I wouldn't attribute to flash stream artifacts but variations in onboard gain. I dunno.

Posted by: Stu Jun 23 2009, 01:18 PM

Yeah, thought so. I can live with that

Posted by: belleraphon1 Jun 23 2009, 01:25 PM

You were not alone, Stu.. That was my plan as well..... to relive APOLLO for a moment.

I intend to watch the impact FROM HOME.

Thanks Zvezdichko, for the screen shots.

Just glad all went well this morning... LRO in orbit and LCROSS on it's way.....

Craig

Posted by: Hungry4info Jun 23 2009, 01:30 PM

Here's some candy.
It's about a megabyte. The final frame is set to last for 1.5 s.
Click to animate.

Posted by: charborob Jun 23 2009, 01:34 PM

Thanks for the screenshots. I couldn't see anything, the frames were black. Problem with Flash?

Posted by: Hungry4info Jun 23 2009, 01:37 PM

It works fine for me when I open it from the post.

Posted by: MahFL Jun 23 2009, 02:03 PM

It is blank for me now. Anyone else seeing pictures ?

Posted by: Greg Hullender Jun 23 2009, 02:42 PM

That would be manned spaceflight, which is not allowed. I'm pretending I'm a robot approaching the Moon. :-)

--Greg

Posted by: djellison Jun 23 2009, 02:45 PM

Bingo - the whole thing at 100x speed. Kind of cool.

Posted by: SpaceListener Jun 23 2009, 02:45 PM

I have just visited the Space Realtime Simulation.

My suggestion are to add other milestones:

• The second loop around the Moon orbit in 38 days and
• Later, comes the final site selection will be made 30 days prior to impact.
• The time of the separation (around 9:40 hours before of impact -Still not sure-) of Centaur and Shepherding Spacecraft.
• The impact of Shepherding LCROSS (October 9, 2009 at 11:30 UT (7:30 a.m. EDT, 4:30 a.m. PDT), +/- 30 minutes).
• The impact of upper stage of Centaur around 4 minutes later than LCROSS spacecraft.

Posted by: dmuller Jun 23 2009, 03:07 PM

Thanks SpaceListener for the suggestions; I appreciate such input because I do miss obvious stuff (occasionally) :-) I will work them in when time permits. This mission somehow slipped under my radar, for one it's not quite exactly interplanetary, and I only recently and by accident found the type of trajectory data which I need for my simulations to work.

As for the final impact timeline, if memory serves me right, it is the Centaur that will hit first, creating a plume through which LCROSS will fly through. LCROSS follows 10 minutes behind the Centaur, allowing for 4 minutes of measurements in the plume ... or something like that.

Will work on this mission shortly.

Posted by: charborob Jun 23 2009, 03:19 PM

Don't know if this is the proper place to ask. Couldn't we have a dedicated LRO subforum? Threads on this mission are starting to multiply. I like things neat and tidy.

Posted by: mars loon Jun 23 2009, 03:30 PM

Two fantastic lunar events this morning within a few hours time. And all in real time

It truly reminded me of the excitment of the Apollo days and what we can really accomplish given the resources

kind of like looking outside the windows of the Apollo Command and Lunar modules. most reminisecent of Apollo 8 command module

ken

Posted by: stewjack Jun 23 2009, 05:18 PM

A copy of the original (5 AM EDT) NASA TV coverage. It's obviously copied from the original stream, and the resolution isn't all the great.
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=739&Itemid= 138 MB ( 37 min long )

Download page
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=739&Itemid=

EDIT: After viewing the entire video file I doubt that many UMSF people would find much interest in this video. All that really happens is that LRO completes its orbit insertion burn.


Jack

Posted by: mars loon Jun 23 2009, 05:24 PM

I been in touch with NASA PAO and a replay may be available on NASA TV later today. also they very likely will post to download from LCROSS website later today also

in the meantime some pics now here:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/lunarswingby/index.html

NASA TV : LRO replay is set for 8 PM EDT tonight

ken

Posted by: belleraphon1 Jun 23 2009, 07:40 PM

Thanks Doug...

live video from the Moon... complete with camera jitter.

Cool indeed...

Craig

Posted by: ollopa Jun 24 2009, 12:30 AM

Can anyone explain the geometry to me? I was expecting a fly-by, but the image barely changes over 90 minutes.

This YouTube visualisation 5 days ago is not official AFAIK, but is more what I expected:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfwDFdunJCQ


I'm sure 'twill be all right on the day - but I'm old enough to remember Giotto, when we expected pics on the night but waited weeks for the processing.

Posted by: dmuller Jun 24 2009, 12:54 AM

All the LCROSS action was after closest approach ... closest approach to the Moon was around the time of the LRO orbit insertion. The camera feed started some 2 to 3 hours after c/a. So what we've seen is a departing movie from the Moon.


Me too. Still remember when suddenly no pics came back anymore ...

Posted by: Stu Jun 24 2009, 06:50 AM

GIOTTO... what a nightmare... insisted my family turn over to BBC to watch the "exciting live coverage" with Patrick Moore and a panel of studio "experts"... told them all how thrilling it would be, how we'd finally get to see Halley's Comet... then the pictures started coming in and no-one had a ****** clue what they showed, or if we'd passed closest approach, or anything. Just a studio full of blank, bewildered faces. My family were less than impressed! Eventually the pics were great of course, but at the time it was a bit cringey.

Posted by: John Moore Jun 24 2009, 10:37 AM

Id's on [some] of the features we're looking at in the original image below.

John
PS...first posting of an image, so forgive

Posted by: Stu Jun 24 2009, 10:51 AM

Thanks for posting that labelled image John, I spent a totally fruitless half hour last night trying to ID features!

Posted by: John Moore Jun 24 2009, 11:11 AM

Yeah..know what you mean re: identifying a feature -- I got lost at some point too :-)

I initially thought that large-ish-looking Mare on the right side was Crisium but that crater (Neper) just to its North suggested doubts, however, it turned out to be Smithii in the end -- the rest afterwards then fell into place.

John

Posted by: Lewis007 Jun 29 2009, 07:22 AM

Following the initial LOI burn of LRO on June 23, an additional four burns have been made, to put the probe into the so-called commissioning orbit. I prepared an overview of these burns below; the info comes from the http://lroupdate.blogspot.com/ website.

burn / date / time (EDT) / duration / (polar) orbit
LOI-2 / 24-06-2009 / 06:56 / 12 min / 200 x 1680 km
LOI-3 / 25-06-2009 / 06:32 / 12 min / 199 x 740 km
LOI-4 / 26-06-2009 / 08:25 / 10 min / 200 x 200 km
LOI-5 / 27-06-2009 / 08:34 / 4 min / 31 x 199 km

About a week and half after reaching the commissioning orbit, the process starts of activating the remaining instruments and start calibrating them.

Posted by: climber Jun 30 2009, 09:34 PM

LCROSS spoted with an amateur telescope: http://www.backyardastronomer.com/lcross/LCROSS-20090629-anim2.gif

Posted by: zeBeamer Jul 1 2009, 03:03 AM

This morning, the LOLA instrument was turned on (not the lasers, just the receptors), and began collecting Laser Ranging data later in the afternoon !
Those data are not exactly like SLR (Satellite Laser Ranging), because it is not a two-way link, but they are timetagged at both the transmitting end (the Goddard station) and the receiving end (the LOLA receptor #1, through a fiber optics between a small telescope attached to the Earth-pointing high-gain antenna and the Moon-pointing LOLA instrument). They give an absolute range betwen the Earth and LRO (after some careful correlation and calibration), which will help improve the position knowledge of the spacecraft and benefit all the instruments (especially LROC, which turned on today for a bit!)

(see the http://lroupdate.blogspot.com/)

Posted by: JRA Aug 10 2009, 03:06 AM

Does anyone have any news as to when the LRO will move into it's mission orbit? I assume it depends on how all the instruments are checking out, and as far as I've read, everything seems to have been working great so far. I've read in the press kit that the commissioning orbit could last up to 60 days, but I figured it could turn out to be less then that if everything is going well.

Posted by: jmknapp Aug 10 2009, 08:25 PM

FWIW, according to the trajectory files at http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/downloads.html (LRO_Mission_Baseline_Ephemeris_v10), they should already be in a 53x48 km orbit today (Aug. 10). Not a tweet on that score at http://twitter.com/lro_NASA though.

Posted by: JRA Aug 12 2009, 11:52 PM

Thank you for the info and the links. And I just saw this today on the LRO twitter. "Orbit #583 around the Moon! Still humming along in my commissioning orbit, on track for Mission Orbit Insertion end of August! :-)"

Posted by: 2amazing Sep 14 2009, 04:42 PM

Orbit #988 about the Moon!! Final instrument calibrations as my team prepares for my Mission Orbit Insertion (MOI) burn tomorrow.
http://twitter.com/LRO_NASA
14-sept-09

Posted by: Zvezdichko Sep 15 2009, 08:37 PM

http://lroupdate.blogspot.com/

LRO now in its final orbit!

Posted by: elakdawalla Sep 15 2009, 08:53 PM

Zvedichko, do you do anything but sit in front of your computer hitting "refresh" on your browser? Thanks for this and all your other tips.

Posted by: Zvezdichko Sep 15 2009, 09:01 PM

I'll take this as a compliment Yes of course, I had a dinner just an hour ago . And I'm preparing to travel to the capital tomorrow so I won't be able to follow the press-conference on Thursday.

I had a lot of work today in front of my monitor, because I'm following the progress of Phobos-Grunt and there are interesting publications in the ru-net. That's why I also had the chance to check LRO's websites.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Sep 15 2009, 10:13 PM

Your contributions are very useful!

Phil

Posted by: 2amazing Sep 16 2009, 07:54 PM

With this the tool on http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/whereislro, you can see the altitude

<Display options,> Altitude (height in km) show.

You see that the height orbit is between 32 km and 72 km

Before final orbit was it 43 and 176 km.

Now wait and see the results of the high res images.