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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Launch, Launch through Orbit Discussion
Guest_Zvezdichko_*
post Jun 18 2009, 09:17 PM
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... which are MAKING MONEY!

LRO launch isn't certain... We hope that the skies will clear, but it's not sure...
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Phil Stooke
post Jun 18 2009, 09:18 PM
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Looking good now for 5:32. The LROC site says they've launched - they didn't update the launch time!

Phil


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... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.

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Guest_Zvezdichko_*
post Jun 18 2009, 09:24 PM
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Launch team polled. LRO is go for launch!

Proceeding with count!
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Tom Tamlyn
post Jun 18 2009, 09:37 PM
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I've seen rocket cams before, but never on a NASA-TV live broadcast of a launch. Thrilling.

TTT
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Tom Tamlyn
post Jun 18 2009, 09:38 PM
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And now we've had shot of the payload under the fairing. Amazing. Think of the rocket engineers who went through their careers without ever seeing a shot like that.

TTT
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Guest_Zvezdichko_*
post Jun 18 2009, 09:49 PM
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MECO! Main engine cutoff!
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Juramike
post Jun 18 2009, 09:50 PM
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That rocket cam shot rising through the clouds was awesome!


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Greg Hullender
post Jun 18 2009, 09:56 PM
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I'm actually in Florida, so I went out on the balcony to look, but I'm afraid we're just a bit too far away to see it from here. Maybe if it had been a night launch. Still, it was cool to follow it online.

--Greg
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Guest_Zvezdichko_*
post Jun 18 2009, 10:20 PM
Post #39





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LRO just successfully separated from the rocket! Congratulations all!
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MahFL
post Jun 18 2009, 10:21 PM
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Separation smile.gif.
I too tried to see it but it launched due east. I can see the shuttle when it goes NE but East is no good.
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Greg Hullender
post Jun 18 2009, 10:21 PM
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Looks good. Next significant news will be Lunar Orbit insertion on Tuesday morning at 5:43 a.m. EDT (0943 GMT).

From Spaceflight Now "T+plus 44 minutes, 45 seconds. SPACECRAFT SEPARATION! The Centaur upper stage has deployed the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on its direct trajectory for the Moon. "

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av020/status.html

--Greg
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Guest_Sunspot_*
post Jun 18 2009, 10:25 PM
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It seems so weird to read that LRO will reach its destination Tuesday morning,, we usually have many months or even years to wait for that.
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Guest_Zvezdichko_*
post Jun 18 2009, 10:26 PM
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QUOTE (Sunspot @ Jun 18 2009, 11:25 PM) *
It seems so weird to read that LRO will reach its destination Tuesday morning,, we usually have many months or even years to wait for that.


Well... the same applies for LCROSS (just kidding) biggrin.gif biggrin.gif

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dvandorn
post Jun 19 2009, 12:53 AM
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QUOTE (Sunspot @ Jun 18 2009, 05:25 PM) *
It seems so weird to read that LRO will reach its destination Tuesday morning,, we usually have many months or even years to wait for that.

Naw... I can remember watching Ranger IX's launch, and then watching the pictures from its video cameras come streaming in "live from the Moon" three days later. And, of course, I'm used to this kind of timing from all those Apollo flights.

I suppose that when you are limited to relatively small boosters and need to get as much mass out to the Moon as you can for the least number of ergs expended, it makes sense to run orbits out farther and farther and to arrive at the Moon months after launch. (That does have its own costs, of course, not least of which is the repeated passage of your probe through the most energetic portions of Earth's Van Allen belts.) But if you have a heavy-lift booster, it can make sense to just get out there as fast as you reasonably can.

I also imagine that LCROSS needs a fairly fast approach to create the big, looping orbits it needs to achieve its desired impact geometry. All told, I imagine this mission simply requires the faster, more direct translunar trajectory.

I'm glad she's off, though, and I'm glad we'll be seeing high-res images of old familiar places (plus new, exciting places) very soon. At least partially as an accident of my birthdate, I've become quite fascinated with lunar geology -- I'm really looking forward to some of the really kewl things we're about to see!

biggrin.gif

-the other Doug


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ilbasso
post Jun 19 2009, 03:08 AM
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I was playing around with the spreadsheet of the LRO priority targets. I found it interesting to do a sort on the priorities...25 Priority 1 targets, 1800+ Priority 2 targets, and 4400+ Priority 3 targets! I really appreciated the detail in the spreadsheet regarding why certain targets were identified as highest priority. It wasn't necessarily just to do with possible ice or potential for a lunar outpost, but many of the Priority 1 targets were suspected either to be the youngest or the oldest areas on the surface of the Moon.


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