NASA's return to the moon will get a boost in June with the launch of two satellites that will return a wealth of data about Earth's nearest neighbor. On Thursday, the agency outlined the upcoming missions of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS. The spacecraft will launch together June 17 aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Editor's note: Regardless of what architecture we might use to go back to the Moon, the fact remains the launch in June of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite are good science missions. In the press release above I've included four videos which will give you a good overview of the missions.
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to peer into history, Spaceflight Now
"But LRO will also provide an exciting new window on the past, says Craig Tooley, LRO project manager at the Goddard Space Flight Center which heads the project.
The LRO team has been developing a computerized target list "with coordinates on about 50 high priority locations that involve all six Apollo landing sites and dozens of U. S. and Soviet robotic spacecraft touchdown points," says Benjamin J. Neumann director for advanced capabilities at NASA s Exploration Mission Directorate. "