[meteorite-list] New NASA Ames Spacecraft to Look for Ice at Lunar South Pole

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Apr 11 11:26:39 2006
Message-ID: <200604101834.k3AIYBC06186_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

John Bluck April 10, 2006
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone: (650) 604-5026 / 9000
E-mail: jbluck_at_mail.arc.nasa.gov

RELEASE: 06-21AR

NEW NASA AMES SPACECRAFT TO LOOK FOR ICE AT LUNAR SOUTH POLE

NASA today announced that a small, 'secondary payload' spacecraft, to
be developed by a team at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field,
Calif., has been selected to travel to the moon to look for precious
water ice at the lunar south pole in October 2008.

The smaller secondary payload spacecraft will travel with the Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) satellite to the moon on the same
rocket, the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV), to be launched
from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The NASA Ames team proposed the
secondary payload mission, which will be carried out by the Lunar
CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS).

"The LCROSS mission gives the agency an excellent opportunity to
answer the question about water ice on the moon," said Daniel Andrews
of NASA Ames, whose team proposed the LCROSS mission. "We think we
have assembled a very creative, highly innovative mission, turning
the upper stage of the rocket that brought us to the moon into a
substantial impactor on the moon."

After launch, the secondary payload LCROSS spacecraft will arrive in
the lunar vicinity independent of the LRO satellite. On the way to
the moon, the LCROSS spacecraft's two main parts, the Shepherding
Spacecraft (S-S/C) and the Earth Departure Upper Stage (EDUS), will
remain coupled.

As the spacecraft approaches the moon's south pole, the upper stage
will separate, and then will impact a crater in the south pole area.
A plume from the upper stage crash will develop as the Shepherding
Spacecraft heads in toward the moon. The Shepherding Spacecraft will
fly through the plume, and instruments on the spacecraft will analyze
the cloud to look for signs of water and other compounds. Additional
space and Earth-based instruments also will study the
2.2-million-pound (1000-metric-ton) plume.

"The LCROSS mission will help us determine if there is water hidden
in the permanently dark craters of the moon's south pole," said
Marvin (Chris) Christensen, Robotic Lunar Exploration Program (RLEP)
manager, and acting director of NASA Ames. "If we find substantial
amounts of water ice there, it could be used by astronauts who later
visit the moon to make rocket fuel," Christensen added.

Earlier, NASA had requested proposals internally from its NASA field
centers for existing or reasonably matured concepts for secondary
payloads that would offer cost-effective contributions to RLEP.

To prepare for the return of astronauts to the moon, NASA will
conduct various RLEP robotic missions from 2008 to potentially 2016
to study, to map and to learn about the lunar surface. These early
missions will help determine lunar landing sites and whether
resources, such as oxygen, hydrogen and metals, are available for use
in NASA's long-term lunar exploration objectives.

"Establishing research stations on the moon will give us the
experience and capabilities to extend to Mars and beyond," noted
robotics deputy program manager Butler Hine of Ames.

"An exploration science program with a sustained human presence on
the moon gives us the opportunity to conduct fundamental science in
lunar geology, history of the solar system, physics and the
biological response to partial (Earth) gravity," said Christopher
McKay, lunar exploration program scientist at Ames.

The space agency specified that the winning proposal must demonstrate
an affordable concept beneficial to RLEP, according to the document
that asked NASA centers to submit suggestions for the secondary
payload. NASA noted that the secondary payload mission should cost no
more than $80 million. NASA also required that the payload mass not
exceed 2,205 pounds (1,000 kilograms).

NASA encouraged its field centers to team with industry to develop
proposals. On Jan. 10, NASA issued a request for information to
industry to allow businesses to provide secondary payload concepts to
NASA. Each NASA center reviewed ideas from industry as well as
secondary payload concepts developed internally.

NASA asked that the concepts advance the Vision for Space Exploration
to include missions that evolve lunar science, characterize the lunar
environment and support identification sites for future human
missions as well as the utility of those sites.

The space agency said that it was looking for missions that
demonstrate technology that could enhance future exploration, that
show operational schemes to support exploration, that develop or
emplace infrastructure in support of exploration, that advance
commercial opportunities and those missions that would collect
engineering data to support the Constellation program. That program
is developing NASA's new spaceship, the Crew Exploration Vehicle.

For images related to the LCROSS mission, please visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/multimedia/images/2006/lunarorbiter.html

For additional high-resolution images of the and historic
information, please visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2004//.html,
http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/,
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunarprosp.html, and
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast31jul99_1.htm

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

-end-
Received on Mon 10 Apr 2006 02:34:10 PM PDT