New Mars Forums

Palomar · 2004-07-14 09:23:35

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology … html]Hello Luna

*Article about the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, scheduled for launch in 2008. Will be launched via chemical rocket (budget considerations). Mission is to provide detailed maps, radiation analysis, indepth study of polar regions looking for H20. In preparation for returning astronauts to the Moon, of course. Also touches on future robotic missions.

Price tag from development to 1st-year operations is $90 million.

Is it just me, or does Mr. Garvin seem to slight the MERs in his comment quoted at the end of the article?

--Cindy

REB · 2004-07-14 09:36:51

Your post made me think of a future profession. The Lunar Remote Construction Worker. (I wonder if there is a good science fiction story there. Hmmmm. A virtual lunar construction worker discovers something interesting while she is digging on the Moon and…)

One day, I hope anyway, there will be thousands of remote controlled lunar robots. Many will probably be construction robots. Imagine having a job controlling one of those from Earth.

That would be a cool job. Go get in you Moon backhoe virtual machine here on Earth and control a real lunar backhoe, and work together with your fellow lunar construction workers to build Moon bases or whatever.

SpaceNut · 2005-02-01 06:04:39

NASA and U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to Team-Up on Lunar Spacecraft development.

The lunar spacecraft is intended as a first shot in a series of robotic probes paving the way for future human exploration missions of the moon.

The hope is that the technology developed from this effort can be applied to a military satellite expected to be launched around the same timeframe.

The cooperation will focus on developing a miniature synthetic aperture radar sensor that the lunar probe will use to develop detailed maps of the Moon’s surface. The Pentagon is planning to launch the fourth in a series of small spacecraft known as TacSat or Joint Warfighter spacecraft that year.

Leave it up to the military to get a hand into Nasa projects that could benifit them militarily.

In the meantime, NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory continue to work together on the Integrated Powerhead demonstration, said Michael Braukus, a NASA spokesman. NASA and the Air Force have spent about $80 million on that effort, which is intended to develop an experimental reusable engine capable of 250,000 pounds of thrust, since 1994.

Only that amount of thrust? ???
Previously I had place some other posting with regards to this probe in the human, moon direct thread as well.

GCNRevenger · 2005-02-01 07:06:13

NASA and the USAF have always worked together really, back from the Mercury days when America made a suped-up V-2 missile with help from the Redstone arsenal. Shuttle has also been used periodicly to launch military payloads in the past, and quite a bit of military technology has found its way to NASA as well.

Building a 250kbls reuseable engine would be about the right size for a reuseable spaceplane... or an intercontenental strategic bomber.

Shaun Barrett · 2005-02-01 07:13:02

Cindy:-

Is it just me, or does Mr. Garvin seem to slight the MERs in his comment quoted at the end of the article?

I didn't read it that way. I think he may have just meant it's going to be an 'economy' mission. (But then, maybe his feathers are ruffled because the budget's smaller than the MER budget. It's hard to be sure.)
???

Palomar · 2005-02-01 12:19:26

Quote
The cooperation will focus on developing a miniature synthetic aperture radar sensor that the lunar probe will use to develop detailed maps of the Moon’s surface. The Pentagon is planning to launch the fourth in a series of small spacecraft known as TacSat or Joint Warfighter spacecraft that year.
SpaceNut: Leave it up to the military to get a hand into Nasa projects that could benifit them militarily.

*Yep. That's definitely a "been there/done that" discussion here at New Mars, but am glad you pointed that out anyway. :-\ Some of us see the "out there" as a beautiful wonderland of awe...some of us anyway...

Cindy:-
Quote
Is it just me, or does Mr. Garvin seem to slight the MERs in his comment quoted at the end of the article?
I didn't read it that way. I think he may have just meant it's going to be an 'economy' mission. (But then, maybe his feathers are ruffled because the budget's smaller than the MER budget. It's hard to be sure.)

*I read it again (has it really been half a year already?) and you seem to be right: Perhaps he -isn't- slamming our billion dollar babies.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-07-12 11:46:12

Would one of the moderators please move this thread to the Unmanned Probes folder?? It'd be appreciated.

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish … 272005]Old NASA equipment will be visible...

*Even HST cannot give us images of Apollo items which remained on Luna.

For the first time in more than 30 years, we'll get a chance to see them again when NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at the Moon in 2008. It will be equipped with a camera capable of resolving the surface of the Moon down to half a metre (1.6 feet). Some of the larger structures on the Moon are 9 metres (30 feet) across, so they should be easy to spot by the orbiter.

Mentions hoax claims and why Apollo items haven't been photographed via HST, etc.

The Moon is 384,400 km away. At that distance, the smallest things Hubble can distinguish are about 60 meters wide. The biggest piece of left-behind Apollo equipment is only 9 meters across and thus smaller than a single pixel in a Hubble image.

LRO's primary mission -isn't- to photograph Apollo stuff, but will inadvertently do so.

Other issues LRO might help resolve:

Once a moonbase is established, what's the danger of it being hit by a big meteorite? LROC will help answer that question.
"We can compare LROC images of the Apollo landing sites with Apollo-era photos," says Robinson. The presence or absence of fresh craters will tell researchers something about the frequency of meteor strikes.
LROC will also be hunting for ancient hardened lava tubes. These are cave-like places, hinted at in some Apollo images, where astronauts could take shelter in case of an unexpected solar storm. A global map of these natural storm shelters will help astronauts plan their explorations.
No one knows what else LROC might find...

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2005-07-12 12:16:06

simular story from another source with same photo image of air field:

[url=http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/11jul_lroc.htm]Abandoned Spaceships
For the first time since the 1970s, a NASA spacecraft will get clear pictures of Apollo relics on the Moon.[/url]

Link has details of apollo landing and why we need Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter camera images for the future.

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#1 2004-07-14 09:23:35

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#2 2004-07-14 09:36:51

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#3 2005-02-01 06:04:39

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#4 2005-02-01 07:06:13

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#6 2005-02-01 12:19:26

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