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LRO development
jamescanvin
post May 2 2005, 01:31 AM
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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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RNeuhaus
post Feb 8 2006, 07:18 PM
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A new article from space.com

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter: Searching For A 'New Moon'

LRO is the first of the Robotic Lunar Exploration Program missions. After a planned launch by late fall 2008, LRO will take four days to make its way to the Moon and then orbit that chunk of "magnificent desolation" for nominally one year.

Now being competitively sought is a co-manifested "secondary" payload on the LRO launch. One idea floating about is ejecting some type of hardware from LRO to demonstrate a "first look" at the polar regions from the Moon's surface.


It will circle around the poles. This mean it is capable to map all Moon surfaces.

"LRO, in all respects, is a unique and challenging planetary mission," Jim Watzin, Planetary Division Chief for the Flight Programs and Projects Directorate at Goddard Space Flight Center explained to SPACE.com. For example, LRO will fly within 31 miles (50 kilometers) of the lunar surface for at least one year in order to conduct a comprehensive and detailed mapping mission. That's a feat that has never before been attempted, he noted.

So low and the Moon's magnetic surface is very unstable due to the asymmetry of the lunar gravitational field. Why there is uninform gravitational field of Moon? Due to Marias lavas? Will it use Ion propulsion to maintain the Moon's orbit?


Take note. For you "Apollo landings were a hoax" believers LROC's sightseeing abilities should set the record straight.

Hope to see again the buried and dirty Apollos' pictures...Not only to American but Soviet landing sities on the Moon.

LRO will give extra special attention to the relatively unexplored polar regions on the Moon.


Unresolved is the issue of polar volatiles as a resource—especially water-ice. The hunt for water-ice on the cold Moon is a hot-button topic. Among a bevy of sensors, LRO is outfitted with equipment to chip away at the ice-on-the-Moon matter.

That is good enough since the previous pictures from South pole is not able to show in detail on the bottom of craters near to South Pole such as Shackleton and its neigboors which are iluminated for the 80% of the lunar day. The other interesting and worth to take pictures is the Peary Crater from the North Pole.


If present, water-ice would be a nifty resource. It could be processed into oxygen, water, and rocket fuel for use by future lunar explorers. Still, whether that icy material is truly tucked away at the Moon's poles is arguable.

Perhaps, these Moon ices would be a good Whisky brinds for astronauts to relax the stressfull (I think so) 3-4 days Moon's trip.

"There's clearly something going on at the lunar poles that we don't fully understand," said David Paige, a space researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles. He's the lead scientist on LRO's Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment. It will chart the temperature of the entire lunar surface at roughly 985 feet (300 meter) horizontal scales to identify cold-traps and potential ice deposits.

I have heard that the lowest Moon temperature is recorded in the South Pole Aitken Basis where is located the crater Shackleton with perhaps -230 degree of centigrade. That is so cold as Pluto since that low temperature is due to the continuous shadows in the south polar craters cause the floors of these formations to maintain a temperature. The night moon in middle latitudes usually lowers to around minus 145-150 degree of centigrade.



Much more to read at http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/06...technology.html

Rodolfo
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Posts in this topic
- jamescanvin   LRO development   May 2 2005, 01:31 AM
- - tedstryk   If they follow through with it, it will be really ...   May 2 2005, 01:35 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   Judging from what I've read: (1) There will ...   May 2 2005, 08:01 PM
|- - tedstryk   That would relate strangely to New Frontiers.   May 2 2005, 11:04 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ May 2 2005, 01:01 PM)Jud...   May 3 2005, 04:53 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   Well, you know, Bush has already blindfolded himse...   May 4 2005, 12:16 AM
- - babakm   New article on LRO: http://science.nasa.gov/headl...   Jul 12 2005, 01:59 PM
|- - SFJCody   LROC site up: http://www.msss.com/lro/lroc/index...   Sep 4 2005, 04:10 PM
|- - dilo   QUOTE (SFJCody @ Sep 4 2005, 04:10 PM)LROC si...   Sep 7 2005, 01:05 AM
|- - Rakhir   QUOTE (dilo @ Sep 7 2005, 03:05 AM)Humm, 0.5 ...   Oct 18 2005, 07:05 AM
|- - ljk4-1   http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/ind...8980....   Jan 3 2006, 04:17 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   Ominous indication tonight that LRO may be about t...   Sep 16 2005, 05:32 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   Stop the presses! No sooner did I write that ...   Sep 16 2005, 05:36 AM
- - edstrick   Somebody said, yesterday -?on another thread?- tha...   Sep 16 2005, 07:11 AM
- - Redstone   Things are starting to move on the Lunar Lander, w...   Sep 30 2005, 08:23 PM
- - jamescanvin   Decent Space Review article this week, giving a go...   Oct 18 2005, 01:38 AM
- - AlexBlackwell   An interesting tidbit from the "In Orbit...   Jan 9 2006, 06:03 PM
- - AlexBlackwell   NASA Developing Robotic Scouts For Lunar Explorati...   Jan 23 2006, 06:42 PM
- - Phil Stooke   Alex, your posts are very useful... Thanks. Phil   Jan 23 2006, 07:08 PM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ Jan 23 2006, 07:08 PM)Al...   Jan 23 2006, 11:17 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   "Trailing cables"? They're kidding,...   Jan 24 2006, 01:16 AM
- - Phil Stooke   The first time they try it, will they have to use ...   Jan 24 2006, 04:24 PM
- - RNeuhaus   A new article from space.com Lunar Reconnaissance...   Feb 8 2006, 07:18 PM
- - Phil Stooke   The irregularities in the gravitational field are ...   Feb 8 2006, 10:01 PM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ Feb 8 2006, 10:01 PM)And...   Feb 9 2006, 12:31 AM
- - Phil Stooke   Alex, you can't really say that Clementine ...   Feb 9 2006, 02:46 AM
|- - Bob Shaw   Phil: At least with the later Apollo flights and ...   Feb 9 2006, 09:25 AM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ Feb 9 2006, 02:46 AM)Ale...   Feb 9 2006, 06:24 PM
- - Phil Stooke   It might *just* be possible, Bob, but the tracks w...   Feb 9 2006, 01:23 PM
|- - ljk4-1   QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ Feb 9 2006, 08:23 AM)It ...   Feb 9 2006, 01:49 PM
|- - Bob Shaw   QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ Feb 9 2006, 02:23 PM)It ...   Feb 9 2006, 07:42 PM
- - Phil Stooke   No. That information, which is repeated on many w...   Feb 9 2006, 02:09 PM
- - Phil Stooke   One final point, often not appreciated. The laser...   Feb 9 2006, 02:19 PM
- - AlexBlackwell   Kaboom! Ancient impacts scarred moon to its co...   Feb 9 2006, 06:05 PM
- - RNeuhaus   Very interesting article: Kaboom! Ancient impa...   Feb 9 2006, 07:04 PM
- - dvandorn   In fact, Bob, the footprints and wheel tracks near...   Feb 9 2006, 10:54 PM
|- - Bob Shaw   QUOTE (dvandorn @ Feb 9 2006, 11:54 PM)In fac...   Feb 10 2006, 12:00 PM
|- - dvandorn   QUOTE (Bob Shaw @ Feb 10 2006, 06:00 AM)...Ap...   Feb 11 2006, 12:36 AM
|- - ljk4-1   If this is any help, Lunar Orbiter 3 was able to i...   Feb 11 2006, 04:42 AM
- - Phil Stooke   There are no lunar prospector images! And the...   Feb 10 2006, 03:45 AM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ Feb 10 2006, 03:45 AM)Th...   Feb 10 2006, 05:57 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   On Apollo 12 , Dick Gordon -- from lunar orbit -- ...   Feb 11 2006, 05:31 AM
- - dvandorn   Gordon saw both the LM and Surveyor with his eye, ...   Feb 11 2006, 06:27 AM
|- - ljk4-1   Dolores Beasley Headquarters, Washington Phone: ...   Feb 17 2006, 04:08 PM
- - PhilHorzempa   [size=2]Does anyone have recent info on the RLEP-2...   Apr 3 2006, 07:01 PM
- - Phil Stooke   RLEP-2 will be a brand new spacecraft, so they wil...   Apr 4 2006, 03:01 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   NASA has made it clear that it will land at a pola...   Apr 4 2006, 03:24 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   I've dug up some more on this. It turns out I...   Apr 5 2006, 12:12 PM
|- - Jim from NSF.com   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Apr 5 2006, 08:12 AM...   Apr 6 2006, 07:08 PM
||- - Jim from NSF.com   QUOTE (Jim from NSF.com @ Apr 6 2006, 03...   Apr 8 2006, 02:04 PM
||- - Bob Shaw   Perhaps the vehicle is already built, as the Blue ...   Apr 8 2006, 03:44 PM
||- - Jim from NSF.com   Maybe so, but there still is no vehicle able to la...   Apr 8 2006, 08:31 PM
|- - PhilHorzempa   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Apr 5 2006, 09:12 AM...   Apr 7 2006, 08:06 PM
- - Phil Stooke   Thanks for this, Bruce. Very nice. The landing a...   Apr 5 2006, 12:35 PM
- - dvandorn   Hiya, Jim. No, this thing wouldn't fly on a C...   Apr 7 2006, 04:37 PM
|- - Jim from NSF.com   Then this is not going to fly before the LSAM, bec...   Apr 7 2006, 05:00 PM
- - dvandorn   Yep -- if Bruce's information is correct, then...   Apr 7 2006, 05:13 PM
|- - Jim from NSF.com   I don't see happening until the LSAM contracto...   Apr 7 2006, 05:40 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   What it's supposed to be -- according to Mark ...   Apr 8 2006, 09:09 PM
|- - Bob Shaw   If there's an impactor mission using the Rayth...   Apr 8 2006, 09:14 PM
||- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (Bob Shaw @ Apr 8 2006, 02:14 PM) I...   May 17 2006, 02:05 PM
||- - ljk4-1   QUOTE (DonPMitchell @ May 17 2006, 10:05 ...   May 17 2006, 02:28 PM
||- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (ljk4-1 @ May 17 2006, 07:28 A...   May 17 2006, 03:54 PM
|- - lyford   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Apr 8 2006, 02:09 PM...   Apr 8 2006, 10:04 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   No, it's just "holding off" on sayin...   Apr 8 2006, 10:56 PM
|- - Bob Shaw   Bruce: I suppose that the EKV technology, althoug...   Apr 8 2006, 11:21 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   Cowing now confirms that RLEP-2 is in very serious...   Apr 9 2006, 10:41 PM
|- - Bob Shaw   Bruce: The mission design as shown in the slide a...   Apr 9 2006, 11:19 PM
|- - BruceMoomaw   QUOTE (Bob Shaw @ Apr 9 2006, 11:19 PM) B...   Apr 10 2006, 12:25 AM
- - RNeuhaus   Many more presentations: http://www.digitalspace...   Apr 10 2006, 12:15 AM
|- - The Messenger   QUOTE (RNeuhaus @ Apr 9 2006, 06:15 PM) M...   Apr 10 2006, 03:33 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   Actually, it's LRO (and its piggyback) that wi...   Apr 10 2006, 03:51 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   One thing that I strangely haven't seen mentio...   Apr 11 2006, 04:10 AM
- - PhilHorzempa   Isn't it about time that RLEP-2 receive a prop...   May 10 2006, 04:53 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   I've got some genuinely reliable and wholly un...   May 10 2006, 08:49 AM
|- - Jim from NSF.com   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ May 10 2006, 04:49 A...   May 11 2006, 02:46 PM
|- - BruceMoomaw   QUOTE (Jim from NSF.com @ May 11 2006, 02...   May 11 2006, 08:51 PM
|- - Jim from NSF.com   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ May 11 2006, 04:51 P...   May 12 2006, 12:15 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   Let me repeat that the fact that RLEP-2 will be mu...   May 12 2006, 01:21 AM
- - Phil Stooke   PhilHorzempa said: "My suggestion is Surveyor...   May 12 2006, 01:59 AM
|- - gndonald   QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ May 12 2006, 09:59 A...   May 13 2006, 10:51 AM
|- - ljk4-1   QUOTE (gndonald @ May 13 2006, 06:51 AM) ...   May 19 2006, 04:20 PM
- - Analyst   Back to LRO. I never understood the "problem...   May 12 2006, 06:19 AM
|- - mcaplinger   QUOTE (Analyst @ May 11 2006, 11:19 PM) B...   May 12 2006, 06:49 AM
|- - Jim from NSF.com   QUOTE (Analyst @ May 12 2006, 02:19 AM) I...   May 12 2006, 12:20 PM
- - Analyst   Thanks, sounds valid. On the other hand, Messenger...   May 12 2006, 07:56 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   That first rumor about Seasat's early demise g...   May 18 2006, 12:10 AM
|- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ May 17 2006, 05:10 P...   May 18 2006, 02:36 AM
|- - mchan   I recall reading some Congressional hearings trans...   May 18 2006, 03:07 AM
- - ljk4-1   Who needs fancy and expensive laser weapons to wip...   May 18 2006, 04:53 PM
- - PhilHorzempa   Here is the recent news, from NASAWatch, about cha...   May 29 2006, 02:58 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   This wouldn't be true if Sen. Shelby's dem...   May 29 2006, 03:28 AM
- - PhilHorzempa   As for RLEP-2, I don't know enough to judge wh...   May 31 2006, 02:04 AM
|- - dvandorn   QUOTE (PhilHorzempa @ May 30 2006, 09:04 ...   May 31 2006, 11:05 AM
|- - Jim from NSF.com   QUOTE (PhilHorzempa @ May 30 2006, 10:04 ...   May 31 2006, 02:11 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   Not at a cost of $2 billion or more, which wa...   May 31 2006, 05:54 AM
- - ljk4-1   They also better come up with a better acronym for...   May 31 2006, 02:39 PM
- - ljk4-1   Is anyone here working on LRO or know someone who ...   Jun 19 2006, 07:20 PM
- - AlexBlackwell   The Workshop on Lunar Crater Observing and Sensing...   Jul 24 2006, 08:29 PM
- - FordPrefect   Just a question, I can't seem to find any info...   Sep 4 2006, 10:12 AM
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