LRO Press Release and Press Conference Options

[Fran Ontanaya]

Studying the past solar cycles by looking at the lunar polar ice sure would look like a very worthy mission.

[Mirek]

Media Briefing on Latest Results from LRO

NASA will host a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT on Thursday, August 19, 2010

LRO page

[Stu]

Ooh! Ooh! I hope it's another announcement about the discovery of "more water than expected" on the Moon; we haven't had one of those for days...!

Seriously, I'm finding it a little hard to get that excited about water-related discoveries now. I think "water-weariness" has set in. And anyway, it's going to take the discovery of a herd of unicorns, being ridden by gorillas in fairy costumes, carrying the severed heads of Elvis, Lord Lucan and the Roswell aliens, to get people interested in the Moon...

I'm hoping this press conference will relate to vulcanism, or a fresh impact. Something we can actually see.

[Hungry4info]

Apparently the moon has been shrinking, driving crustal folds. The implications are that the Moon seems to have been geologically active within the past Gyr, perhaps today. The radial shrink they observe is consistent with ~100 m.

Edit:
Link -- http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news...nking-moon.html

[Hungry4info]

Also, quite a bit was discussed about an LRO extension.

From what I understood, a two-year extension is being considered. The orbit would be a higher, lower maintenance orbit to conserve fuel. There was some talk about having a global moon map at 1 - 2 metre per pixel resolution if they got another extension after that.

[Hungry4info]

Media Briefing to Feature More Results from Lunar Mission
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=31627

"NASA will host a media teleconference briefing at 2 pm EDT on Thursday September 16 to discussion comeplling new research results from NASA's Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission."

[Hungry4info]

NASA'S Lunar Spacecraft Completes Exploration Mission Phase
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=31635

"NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, will complete the exploration phase of its mission on Sept. 16, after a number of successes that transformed our understanding of Earth's nearest neighbor."