![]() ![]() There are a number of other imperatives for the LRO instrument package. If the water is not there, or if it is there in forms that make it difficult to extract, then the whole project will need to be rethought. Water is the second most valuable substance in the solar system (the most valuable, of course, being human brainpower.) In his April 1st testimony before the House Science Committee, Paul Spudis said that, “We estimate that over 10 billion tons of water exist at the lunar poles.” If he’s right, then the vision to build the Moonbase, to perfect ISRU technology and then go on the Mars, will be possible within roughly the time frame laid out by President Bush. Choosing the right instruments to do this should be at the top of any list of priorities. It would be nice if the LRO can confirm or deny the presence of water ice in the dark craters of the south polar region. We know, for example, that there is plenty of hydrogen on the Moon, but we do not know what form it is in or what it is chemically bonded with. The meaning of the data from the 1994 Clementine and 1998 Lunar Prospector missions is still being debated. It can be assumed that the primary goal of this project is to map the Moon’s usable resources for planning ISRU technologies. Aside from the samples brought back from Apollo, there is still relatively little we know about the potential minerals-above all the water-that might exist on the Moon. Lunar reconnaissance orbiter code#Based on the vision paper, it can be assumed that the primary goal of this project is to map the Moon’s usable resources so that Code T can begin to develop the technologies needed for in situ resource utilization (ISRU). The first requirement is to decide the goals of the LRO mission. Given the time it takes for missions such as the LRO to be designed, built, tested, and certified, the need to get the requirements right, and to do so fast, is an early test of Code T and Admiral Steidle’s ability to change the way things get done at NASA. ![]() ![]() Scheduled to be launched sometime in 2008, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) project is quickly approaching the point where some basic decisions have to be made. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter: the cornerstone of the vision by Taylor Dinerman LRO imagery has even been used to re-examine previous data about the Moon, including data from the Apollo missions.Īstrobiologists supported by the Astrobiology Program have used data from LRO to better understand the history and formation of the Earth-Moon system.The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will be far more ambitious-and far larger-than recent missions to the Moon, like Lunar Prospector (above). This data is relevant to understanding other similarly-sized worlds in the Solar System and beyond, such as the moons of other planets like Jupiter and Saturn. LRO data has informed scientific investigations that have expanded astrobiologists’ knowledge of the formation and evolution of small, rocky bodies. LRO observations have enabled numerous groundbreaking discoveries, creating a new picture of the Moon as a dynamic and complex body. After a year of exploration, the mission was extended with a unique set of science objectives.Īs our nearest neighbor, the Moon is a natural laboratory for investigating fundamental questions about the origin and evolution of the Earth and the Solar System. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter ( LRO) is a robotic mission that set out to map the Moon’s surface in high resolution. ![]()
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