LRO development Options

[kwan3217]

For those who were not convinced of my reasoning, check this link that suggests that the LRO's launch will slip to February 2009.

http://www.livescience.com/blogs/author/leonarddavid/

Pretty close to my earlier analysis and prediction.

I work with the Solar Dyanmics Observatory and received the following email. SDO is one of 3 spacecraft competing for two launch vehicles. LRO is one of the others, so their launch affects ours and vice versa. Nothing in this email is marked confidential, but personal information has been redacted.

Date: July 11, 2008 9:07:31 AM MDT
Subject: Latest on SDO Launch Date

Team,


We have just heard from our management and KSC.


LRO has swapped manifest positions with OTV which was a February 2009 launch. So, OTV now has the December 2008 slot, and LRO has the February 2009 slot. Per KSC/ULA, SDO has priority on any slot that opens up between LRO and MSL (currently September 2009). ULA has waitlisted us on the manifest for June 2009, with a potential of April. My understanding is that the currently manifested June mission is shakier than the April mission. However, both are possibilities.


We will be working over the next month or so to come up with a plan to accommodate the new reality; you will be involved in the planning (even though I realize we will have to work odd hours to touch base with people who are on shiftwe will do so).


The good news is that we will be able to complete our thermal testing without interruption, and will then be in a position to take advantage of almost any launch opportunity that arises.


Thank you,

Take this for what it's worth.

[stevesliva]

I work with the Solar Dyanmics Observatory

So does my friend Tom:
http://thecommentators.blogspot.com/2008/0...adventures.html

[tedstryk]

It is official. http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/08/14/m...d.ap/index.html

[nprev]

Just to make things more interesting for overall launch scheduling/coordination (like they need to be made more so ), I've been hearing vague things about some sort of newly-discovered problem with Deltas that might have a ripple effect on everybody. Anybody more in the know have any info?

[imipak]

According to this Boeing page, they've had sixty-six consecutive successful launches, so it can't be anything too serious.

[Phil Stooke]

I was at the NASA Lunar Science Conference at Ames Research Center in sunny Mountain View last month, and got an update on LCROSS. The LRO-LCROSS launch is postponed, as already noted, but the implication for LCROSS is that the earliest possible impact date is now in mid-May. Because of the viewing and illumination conditions at that time, the north pole is favored for the impact. The attached image shows five candidate sites, labelled A to E.

The background image is a radar map showing predicted volatile concentrations (based on illumination analysis of topography) as white spots. Earth is at the top, and sites B, C and E surround the old wreck of a crater, Peary.

Phil

[punkboi]

Just to make things more interesting for overall launch scheduling/coordination (like they need to be made more so ), I've been hearing vague things about some sort of newly-discovered problem with Deltas that might have a ripple effect on everybody. Anybody more in the know have any info?

LRO will be launched on an Atlas 5...which is built by Lockheed Martin.

Unless by everybody you mean United Launch Alliance itself, in general.

[Guest_Zvezdichko_*]

http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/hardware/20081030.html

Vacuum testing...

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Next NASA Moon Mission Completes Major Milestone
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has successfully completed thermal vacuum testing, which simulates the extreme hot, cold and airless conditions of space LRO will experience after launch. This milestone concludes the orbiter's environmental test program at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
LRO will be shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in early 2009 to be prepared for its April 24 launch aboard an Atlas V rocket. Accompanying the spacecraft will be the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, a mission that will impact the moon's surface in its search for water ice.

[Cugel]

Launch NET 7 May according to NASAWATCH.COM

[elakdawalla]

LRO has shipped and NASA hasn't posted many images, only a video. I'm still kind of ignorant about handling video on the Web -- anybody know how to embed this video, or if it's possible to do? I hate linking to videos, I'd rather have the embedded player.

Here's the link.
--Emily

[Paul Fjeld]

It arrived at Astrotech on Friday:

[elakdawalla]

Thanks for the tip. Where'd the photo come from? I didn't find it on either of the LRO websites or the Kennedy media archive.

--Emily

[Paul Fjeld]

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm

Then I just typed "lunar reconnaissance orbiter" in the search field and found six nice pics of the arrival, to my surprise. KSC media usually does a nice job of sorting the mission stuff with a separate highlight field, but I think it's a bit early yet...

[elakdawalla]

Guess I just didn't work hard enough! Thanks. There are now 15 images up, including several showing the spacecraft more unwrapped with various technical doohickeys attached. Here's a labeled CAD drawing identifying instruments from the LRO website.

--Emily