Today marks a milestone in NASA’s efforts to return humans to the Moon by 2020. Two unmanned spacecraft, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), entered into their respective orbits around the Moon over the last few hours. Their missions are both aimed at learning more about our closest celestial neighbor so that we can be as prepared as possible before sending humans back to explore and settle its surface.
The LRO is very similar to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) currently orbiting the Red Planet in terms of mission objectives and design. It will provide some of the most detailed maps of the Moon in history while mapping out its mineral distribution on the surface and scanning for the ever elusive water ice.
LCROSS will pursue the latter exclusively, scheduled to impact the Moon sometime in October into a permanently shadowed crater near the southern polar region of the Moon to look for water ice. It is actually two craft, one is the Earth-departure stage for the LRO and LCROSS missions and the other is an observation satellite which will be making its own kamikaze descent behind the EDS. It will view the impact and send back information about the content of the ejecta cloud before impacting the Moon moments later. The goal is to determine once and for all if water ice exists on the Moon and if so in what quantities.
LRO will start beaming back images within the next week and I will be sure to post a couple here as they become available.