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The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter NASA’s Next First Step To The Moon

Learn about NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and its mission to study the Moon's surface and search for evidence of water. Discover the tools and instruments on board that will provide valuable data for future human exploration of the Moon.

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The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter NASA’s Next First Step To The Moon

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  1. The Lunar Reconnaissance OrbiterNASA’s Next First Step To The Moon Noah E. Petro NASA Goddard Space Flight Center May 12th, 2009

  2. A Bit About Me • Grew up in southern New York state • Became interested in Geology as a student at the Fox Lane High School • Earned a degree in geology and education from Bates College (2001) • PhD from Brown University in 2006 • Post Doctoral researcher at NASA Goddard

  3. Lunar Prospector Clementine Albedo FeO Th Topography Color Polar H

  4. The Moon’s Orientation 1.54º tilt to the ecliptic

  5. Kaguya View of Shackleton/South Pole

  6. Earth Based Radar View of the South Pole

  7. Resources on the Moon Moon’s inclination to the Sun is only 1.5°, allowing permanently shadowed regions inside craters Lunar Prospector Neutron Spectrometer looks for "slow" (or thermal) and "intermediate" (or epithermal) neutrons which result from collisions of normal "fast" neutrons with hydrogen atoms. The ice was thought to be spread over 10,000 to 50,000 square km and amount to 6 billion metric tons. A significant amount of hydrogen would indicate the existence of water - 4.6% over the north polar region and 3% over the south, at a depth of about 40 centimeters beneath dry regolith. 1) Fluxes of fast and epithermal neutrons from Lunar Prospector: Evidence for water ice at the lunar poles, Feldman et al., Science, v. 281, p. 1496, 1998 No water (as OH-) was detected from the July 31, 1999 crash of Lunar Prospector into the Moon.Possible reasons: might have missed the target area; might have hit a rock; crash had too little energy to separate water from minerals; plume hidden from telescopes by crater walls; telescopes mispointed; or hydrogen simply may not be in the form of water ice.

  8. Lunar South Pole The search for water … Lunar Prospector data Map of Hydrogen(red = greater abundance of H)

  9. Note from the LPI staff: Please double click the image to play the movie clip contained in this slide.

  10. Lunar South Pole The search for water …

  11. View into Shackleton Crater

  12. View into Shackleton Crater

  13. Polar cold traps • Scientists use the Kelvin absolute temperature scale, where ice melts at 273.16 K. • Dry ice forms at Mars atmospheric pressure at 145 K, water ice clouds form at ~180-200 K. • Liquid oxygen (1 bar): 90 K • Liquid nitrogen (1 bar): 77 K • Temperatures in Shackleton Crater: 88-86 K No surface ices exposed?

  14. Objectives of LRO • Produce a high resolution “atlas” of the Moon to be used to determine where we should/can go with humans • Study the lunar surface to better understand its evolution

  15. Note from the LPI staff: Please double click the image to play the movie clip contained in this slide.

  16. What will LRO do? • CRaTER - Radiation measurements of lunar orbit. • DIVINER (DLRE) - Will measure the thermal environment of the surface. • LAMP - Using UV light from stars, will “look into” polar craters. • LEND - Neutron detector to look for Hydrogen

  17. What will LRO do? • LOLA - Laser altimeter to provide slope and topography information • LROC - Series of cameras • NAC will provide high resolution views of surface, with stereo capabilities • WAC provides lower resolution regional views • Mini-RF - Radar instrument to probe surface for evidence of ice

  18. Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite [LCROSS]

  19. For more information… • Lunar Photo of the Day • http://lpod.wikispaces.com/ • Lunar and Planetary Institute -Lunar Resources • http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/ • Apollo Surface Journal • http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/ • LRO website • http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html

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