New NASA Instruments Installed on LRO
“The spacecraft really is coming together now,” said Cathy Peddie, LRO deputy project manager at Goddard. “We are in the space assembly homestretch and making solid progress. You can begin to see what LRO will look like in all of its glory.”
Installed on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) are several instruments to characterize the moon’s surface, bringing the moon into sharper focus and focusing on more new insights. With the moon taking precedence over the red planet in human exploration, lunar spacecraft are making ready for testing and launching later on this year. The LRO Integration and Test Team –both engineers and technicians—are preparing the lunar spacecraft for the launching. Six instruments are in the planning for the spacecraft, with four already mated—one of the two will be installed soon with the second one to arrive in the near future:
** The Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project—map the entire surface in the far ultraviolet spectrum, searching for surface ice and frost in the polar regions; provides images of permanently shadowed regions illuminated only by star light.
** The Cosmic Ray Telescope of Radiation (CRaTER)—characterizes the lunar radiation environment, which allows scientists to determine potential impacts to astronauts and other life. Also in the making are testing of models on the effects of radiation and measuring radiation absorption by a type of plastic that is like human tissue.
** The Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment—measuring surface and subsurface temperatures from orbit, identifying cold traps and potential ice deposits, in addition to rough terrains and other landing hazards.
** The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter—measuring landing site slopes and lunar surface roughness and generating high resolution three-dimension maps of the moon; measure and analyze the lunar topography to help identify shadowed areas and permanently illuminated.
** Russian-built Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector—create high resolution maps of hydrogen distribution and gather information about the neutron component of lunar radiation. Analyzation of data for evidence of water ice near the moon’s surface.
**Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera –provides high resolution imagery to identify landing sites and characterize the moon’s topography and composition; arriving in May 2008 at Goddard.
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