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SLS / Orion / Beyond-LEO HSF - Constellation => Missions To The Moon (HSF) => Topic started by: wilson macduff on 05/23/2017 06:37 pm

Title: Lunar Recannaissance Orbiter
Post by: wilson macduff on 05/23/2017 06:37 pm
Hi All
I'm a writer based in Scotland.  I'd appreciate any thoughts, signposts, ideas on the following question regarding a short story I am writing called 'Odyssey.
Many thanks in advance
Wilson

My story is about looking for alien artefacts on the moon.  LOR plays a role in this, sending high res images to Earth.  In fact, the whole world is busy downloading and analysing these images but afters years of searching no one finds anythng and the mission is brought to an end.  And that's when something happens! 
I'd like to know just a few key steps required to shut down LOR.  A small team on the moon have been tasked with this, so it would be helpful if you could offer some very basic guidance on the necessary steps.  The story is not intended for a scientific audience.  It's written for children  and I want to give them a  sense of the procedure that sounds plausible without getting lost in technical details.
One paragraph is really all I need – 4-5 steps or sets of instructions would be fantastic if you have time.
 

Title: Re: Lunar Rec[o]nnaissance Orbiter
Post by: edkyle99 on 05/23/2017 08:58 pm
Here is a hint of the command and telemetry support complexity.
http://csse.usc.edu/GSAW/gsaw2007/s6/schupler.pdf
http://spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=16926

Commands are going to look like lines of code gibberish to non-program types, I suspect.  The specifics of command sequencing are no doubt closely held by Goddard, and some type of encryption is almost certainly used during command transmissions.  I also seriously doubt that turning off the spacecraft is easy, even for the folks who are able to make it happen.

 - Ed Kyle
Title: Re: Lunar Recannaissance Orbiter
Post by: Steven Pietrobon on 05/24/2017 07:42 am
I don't think LRO (not LOR, that is Lunar Orbit Rendezvous) will be shut down. It will be sent commands to fire its thrusters to lower its perilune (lowest point in its elliptical orbit) that intersects with the Lunar surface. LRO might then be tasked with sending images back to Earth right up until impact with the Lunar surface.
Title: Re: Lunar Recannaissance Orbiter
Post by: envy887 on 05/24/2017 01:23 pm
Why is the team on the moon shutting down LRO, instead of the NASA control center doing it remotely?

If the point is to avoid observation of a particular activity by a working LRO without NASA's cooperation, than it's likly simple to time that activity for when LRO is not overhead. LRO takes a long time (at least months and maybe years?) to image the entire moon in high resolution, so hiding from it is merely a matter of knowing its orbit relative to the time and place you're hiding.

If the point is that LRO simply reaches end of life, than as noted above it will likely either be intentionally deorbited by NASA, or possibly suffer a mission-ending failure. A mechanical failure, propellant leak, micrometeorite strike etc. could put LRO out of operation at any time.
Title: Re: Lunar Recannaissance Orbiter
Post by: eric z on 05/24/2017 01:35 pm
 Welcome to NSF, Wilson! Good luck with your story, and be sure to tell us here when it becomes available. The most famous thing found on the moon in a work of S-F is probably the "Monolith" in "2001", but I just realized I'm forgetting Jules Verne!
 Hopefully not-to-far in the future families will be reading your story in a lunar city. ;D
Title: Re: Lunar Recannaissance Orbiter
Post by: Blackstar on 05/26/2017 03:17 pm
You must immediately watch the 1989 movie "Moontrap" for background information.
Title: Re: Lunar Recannaissance Orbiter
Post by: Blackstar on 05/26/2017 06:37 pm
http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/posts/973

LRO hit by a meteorite.
Title: Re: Lunar Recannaissance Orbiter
Post by: Arch Admiral on 05/27/2017 08:05 pm
After watching "Moontrap", get the new sequel "Moontrap: Target Earth" from Netflix. "Moontrap" was a terrible movie, but judging from the online reviews, the sequel may just be the worst SF movie ever made.