Author Topic: LIVE: Atlas V/Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter - June 18, 09 (Read 258271 times)

Ronsmytheiii · « **Reply #40 on:** 02/17/2009 06:29 pm »

Images of LRO:

jacqmans · « **Reply #41 on:** 02/17/2009 09:17 pm »

RELEASE: 09-032

NASA MISSION TO SEEK WATER ICE ON MOON HEADS TO FLORIDA FOR LAUNCH

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing
Satellite, known as LCROSS, is enroute from Northrop Grumman's
facility in Redondo Beach, Calif., to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in
Florida in preparation for a spring launch.

The satellite's primary mission is to search for water ice on the moon
in a permanently shadowed crater near one of the lunar poles. LCROSS
is a low-cost, accelerated-development, companion mission to NASA's
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO. At Kennedy, the two spacecraft
will be integrated with an Atlas V launch vehicle and tested for
final flight worthiness. LCROSS and LRO are the first missions in
NASA's plan to return humans to the moon and begin establishing a
lunar outpost by 2020.

After launch, the LCROSS spacecraft and the Atlas V's Centaur upper
stage rocket will fly by the moon and enter into an elongated orbit
to position the satellite for impact. On final approach, the
spacecraft and Centaur will separate. The Centaur will strike the
chosen lunar crater, creating a debris plume that will rise above the
surface. Four minutes later, LCROSS will fly through the debris
plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before striking the
moon's surface and creating a second debris plume. Scientists will
use data from the debris clouds to determine the presence or absence
of water ice.

"The LCROSS project has had to work within very challenging cost-cap
and schedule-cap constraints," said Dan Andrews, LCROSS project
manager at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "The
shipping of our spacecraft is a testament to our balanced approach
and the great people working on this project."

To remain within budget and a short schedule of 26 months, the LCROSS
project team developed a simple yet innovative spacecraft that uses
existing NASA systems, commercial-off-the-shelf components modified
to survive the harsh conditions of space, and the spacecraft design
and development expertise of integration partner Northrop Grumman
Space Technologies.

"LCROSS delivers a high science value per dollar," said Steve Hixson,
vice president for advanced concepts at Northrop Grumman Aerospace
Systems in Redondo Beach. "With its versatile, fast and cost
efficient architecture, the LCROSS spacecraft serves as a pathfinder
for future low-cost Earth and space science missions."

Ames manages the LCROSS mission and will conduct mission and science
operations. Northrop Grumman designed, built, integrated and tested
the spacecraft. The LCROSS and LRO missions are components of the
Lunar Precursor Robotic Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Ala. The program manages pathfinding robotic
missions to the moon for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate
at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

For more information about the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing
Satellite, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/lcross

For more information about the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/lro

For more information about Northrop Grumman Corporation, visit:

http://www.northropgrumman.com

-end-

Ronsmytheiii · « **Reply #42 on:** 02/18/2009 04:49 pm »

LCROSS is on its way to Florida:

Quote

en route to Florida! last seen Phoenix, still heading east! looking forward to seeing @LRO_NASA in a few days.

Quote

mini-update on my voyage east, just in eastern Texas today, expect to arrive in Florida midday tomorrow, will be seeing @LRO_NASA real soon!

http://twitter.com/LCROSS_NASA

Ronsmytheiii · « **Reply #43 on:** 02/20/2009 01:21 pm »

LCROSS has arrived at the Astrotech facility:

Quote

Just settling into our digs at Astrotech now. What a trip! Thanks to all who took care of me on our way east and those supporting from afar.

http://twitter.com/LCROSS_NASA

Ronsmytheiii · « **Reply #44 on:** 02/20/2009 09:32 pm »

LCROSS arriving at the Astrotech Processing Facility:

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=4

punkboi · « **Reply #45 on:** 02/20/2009 11:11 pm »

Mission: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LRO/LCROSS)
Launch Vehicle: Atlas V
Launch Pad: Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Launch Date: Under Review
Launch Time: TBD

NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, left Northrop Grumman's facility in Redondo Beach, Calif., on Feb. 17 via truck and arrived at the Astrotech Facility in Titusville, Fla., near Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 19.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, arrived at the facility on Feb. 13. The spacecraft was uncrated and transferred to a hazardous processing facility the same day where covers were removed and technicians performed a black-light inspection. The spacecraft's solar arrays were attached and deployed, and a spacecraft activation test was conducted on Feb. 15.

The Centaur stage is scheduled to arrive at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Friday. Offloading and transport to the Astrotech facility is scheduled for Saturday.

Jim · « **Reply #46 on:** 02/21/2009 12:56 pm »

The Centaur will not go to Astrotech

punkboi · « **Reply #47 on:** 02/21/2009 05:57 pm »

Quote from: Jim on 02/21/2009 12:56 pm

The Centaur will not go to Astrotech

Maybe the Centaur will undergo special check-ups this time around since it will be part of the LRO/LCROSS mission (i.e. crash into the Moon). Anyways, the KSC Media Gallery mentions the same thing

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=4

WHAP · « **Reply #48 on:** 02/25/2009 05:43 pm »

Quote from: punkboi on 02/21/2009 05:57 pm

Quote from: Jim on 02/21/2009 12:56 pm
The Centaur will not go to Astrotech

Maybe the Centaur will undergo special check-ups this time around since it will be part of the LRO/LCROSS mission (i.e. crash into the Moon). Anyways, the KSC Media Gallery mentions the same thing

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=4

The Centaur will not go to Astrotech. The Centaur is processed in the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center (ASOC) prior to being erected. Maybe they mixed up their acronyms or something.

Jim · « **Reply #49 on:** 02/25/2009 05:56 pm »

Quote from: punkboi on 02/21/2009 05:57 pm

Maybe the Centaur will undergo special check-ups this time

It isn't doing anything special for this, other than inerting itself. LCROSS is doing everything

John44 · « **Reply #50 on:** 02/26/2009 04:44 pm »

NASA LUNAR CRATER OBSERVATION AND SENSING SATELLITE ARRIVES IN FLORIDA
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4698

punkboi · « **Reply #51 on:** 02/27/2009 09:56 pm »

Mission: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LRO/LCROSS)
Launch Vehicle: Atlas V
Launch Pad: Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Launch Date: No Earlier Than May 20, 2009
Launch Time: TBD

NASA now is targeting May 20 for launch instead of April 24 after another Atlas V government launch, which is scheduled for liftoff in March, experienced technical problems and was delayed. It will use the same launch pad that LRO/LCROSS will use.

NASA's Lunar Crater Observation Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, left Northrop Grumman's facility in Redondo Beach, Calif., on Feb. 17 via truck and arrived at the Astrotech Facility in Titusville, Fla., near Kennedy Space Center, on Feb. 19.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, arrived at the facility on Feb. 13. The spacecraft was uncrated and transferred to a hazardous processing facility the same day, where covers were removed and technicians performed a black-light inspection. The spacecraft's solar arrays were attached and deployed, and a spacecraft activation test was conducted on Feb. 15.

Several operations tests and simulations were conducted on both spacecraft during the past week.

The Centaur stage arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Feb. 20. It was offloaded and transported to the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center facility on Feb. 21. The launch vehicle fairing halves arrived at the payload processing facility on Feb 26.

punkboi · « **Reply #52 on:** 03/04/2009 06:51 am »

The Atlas V first stage booster for LRO arrived at Cape Canaveral AFS today

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=201

Ronsmytheiii · « **Reply #53 on:** 03/05/2009 07:37 pm »

LCROSS processing:

Ben the Space Brit · « **Reply #54 on:** 03/06/2009 11:08 am »

I checked but I couldn't find any mention of this. What sub-variant of Atlas-V is going to be used for this launch? With two probes to send through TLI, I would imagine it would have to be one of the more powerful versions.

I know that the first launch of the tri-core Atlas-VH is close but I wasn't sure if this is it.

Analyst · « **Reply #55 on:** 03/06/2009 11:11 am »

Atlas-VH is not close to flight, there is not even a plan to develop it. LRO uses the smallest Atlas V, 401.

Analyst

Jim · « **Reply #56 on:** 03/06/2009 12:05 pm »

Quote from: Ben the Space Brit on 03/06/2009 11:08 am

I checked but I couldn't find any mention of this. What sub-variant of Atlas-V is going to be used for this launch? With two probes to send through TLI, I would imagine it would have to be one of the more powerful versions.

I know that the first launch of the tri-core Atlas-VH is close but I wasn't sure if this is it.

LCROSS was added to the mission because there was a huge amount of excess payload capability

Antares · « **Reply #57 on:** 03/08/2009 12:48 am »

IIRC, LRO was originally baselined for a D2H but outgrew it. (Or was that MRO? Both?)

Jim · « **Reply #58 on:** 03/08/2009 12:24 pm »

Just LRO. MRO was baselined for an Atlas III

Analyst · « **Reply #59 on:** 03/08/2009 02:13 pm »

LRO switched from Delta II to Atlas V because of propellant sloshing issues. Mass was also a factor.

Analyst