LRO

Launch data: Designation  35135 / 09031A Launch date  18 June 2009 - 21:32 UT Launch site  CC, SLC-41 Launch vehicle  Atlas-V/401 (AV-020) Mission  Lunar orbiter Selenocentric orbit Perihelion / Aphelion   A.U. Eccentricity   Inclination   deg Period   min

Spacecraft data: Prime contractor  NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Operator   Platform   Mass at launch  1906 kg Dry Mass  1018 kg Basic shape  Box Dimensions (m)  2.62 m across and 3.87 m tall Solar array  single three-segment vane of solar panels 4.27 m wide and extending 3.21 m from the spacecraft Stabilization   DC power   Design lifetime

Descriptions:

• LRO and LCROSS are the first missions in NASA's plan to return humans to the moon and begin establishing a lunar outpost by 2020. The LRO also includes seven instruments that will help NASA characterize the moon's surface: DIVINER, LAMP, LEND, LOLA , CRATER, Mini-RF and LROC.

Mission details:

• Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA lunar orbiting spacecraft, intended to provide detailed maps of the lunar surface, monitor the levels of radiation and investigate the Moon’s polar regions for resources that could be useful for future manned lunar missions.
• Instrumentation on the spacecraft includes: Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter Measurement (LOLA), Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC), Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND), Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment, Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) and Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER). Mission scheduled to last for about a year.
• After launch the Atlas-5 second stage/EDUS with the two payloads entered the approximate orbit of 180 x 208 km: no orbital data were issued from USSSN. On June 18 at 22:15 the Centaur manoeuvred to a 28.2 deg, 194-353,700 km orbit, in which LRO separated at 22:18 UT. There was a subsequent Centaur burn to depletion which adjusted the EDUS/LCROSS orbit to 28 deg, 133-348640 km lunar flyby trajectory.
• On June 23, 2009 the four 80N thrusters burned from 09:47 UT to 10:26 UT, placing it in a 90 deg, 220-3100 km selenocentric orbit.
• On Jun 24, 2009 at 10:56 UTC a 12 min LOI-2 burn reduced the orbit to 200 x 1680 km; at 10:32 UTC on Jun 25 LOI-3 sent LRO to a 199 x 740 km x 89.93 deg path; and LOI-4 at 12:25 on Jun 26 resulted in a roughly 200 x 200 km orbit.
• On Jun 27 it entered the commissioning orbit of 31 x 209 km x 90.5 deg, and its first high resolution images of the lunar surface are now being returned.
• By Aug 3, when the commissioning orbit will have been perturbed to 43 x 197 km x 89.7 deg, LRO will be ready to go lower, entering an orbit which ranges from 47 x 53 km at its most circular to 35 x 66 km at its most elliptical.
• On Jan 1, 2010 the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is in a roughly 40 x 60 km x 90 deg orbit around the Moon.