First Launch of the Vision for Space Exploration Successful

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) were successfully launched by an Atlas 5 on June 18. This is the first launch of the Vision for Space Exploration announced by President George W. Bush in January 2004. The launch originally was scheduled to take place during the Bush Administration, but slipped into the Obama Administration, which is also supportive of the goal of returning Americans to the Moon by 2020.

LRO will reach the Moon on Tuesday and enter polar orbit. Its primary purpose is to produce digital maps of the lunar surface to identify landing sites for future human missions. LCROSS remains attached to the Centaur upper stage. They will enter an elongated lunar orbit to position the Centaur so that it can impact a permanently shaded crater at one of the Moon’s poles. The impact will create a “debris plume” that can be studied by lunar orbiting spacecraft and Earth-based telescopes to determine if water is present. It is theorized that water ice deposited by comet impacts may have been preserved in permanently shaded areas of the Moon’s poles. If true, it could be useful for future human outposts. LCROSS will separate from the Centaur before impact and return data about the plume before crashing into the lunar surface itself, creating a second plume. For more information, see NASA’s press kit.

The most recent U.S. lunar probe was Lunar Prospector, launched in 1998. More recently, Europe, Japan, China and India have sent probes to the Moon.