[meteorite-list] NASA Successfully Launches Lunar Impactor (LCROSS)

[Ron Baalke]

June 18, 2009

Grey Hautaluoma/Ashley Edwards 
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-0668/1756 
grey.hautaluoma-1 at nasa.gov, ashley.edwards-1 at nasa.gov 

Jonas Dino 
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. 
650-207-3280 
jonas.dino at nasa.gov 

RELEASE: 09-143

NASA SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES LUNAR IMPACTOR

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA successfully launched the Lunar Crater 
Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, Thursday on a mission 
to search for water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at the 
moon's south pole. The satellite lifted off on an Atlas V rocket from 
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., at 5:32 p.m. EDT, with a 
companion mission, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO. 

LRO safely separated from LCROSS 45 minutes later. LCROSS then was 
powered-up, and the mission operations team at NASA's Ames Research 
Center at Moffett Field, Calif., performed system checks that 
confirmed the spacecraft is fully functional. 

LCROSS and its attached Centaur upper stage rocket separately will 
collide with the moon at approximately 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 9, 2009, 
creating a pair of debris plumes that will be analyzed for the 
presence of water ice or water vapor, hydrocarbons and hydrated 
materials. The spacecraft and Centaur are tentatively targeted to 
impact the moon's south pole near the Cabeus region. The exact target 
crater will be identified 30 days before impact, after considering 
information collected by LRO, other spacecraft orbiting the moon, and 
observatories on Earth. 

"LCROSS has been the little mission that could," said Doug Cooke, 
associate administrator for NASA's Exploration Systems Mission 
Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We stand poised for 
an amazing mission and possible answers to some very intriguing 
questions about the moon." 

The 1,290-pound LCROSS and 5,216-pound Centaur upper stage will 
perform a swing-by maneuver of the moon around 6 a.m. on June 23 to 
calibrate the satellite's science instruments and enter a long, 
looping polar orbit around Earth and the moon. Each orbit will be 
roughly perpendicular to the moon's orbit around Earth and take about 
37 days to complete. Before impact, the spacecraft and Centaur will 
make approximately three orbits. 

On the final approach, about 54,000 miles above the surface, LCROSS 
and the Centaur will separate. LCROSS will spin 180 degrees to turn 
its science payload toward the moon and fire thrusters to slow down. 
The spacecraft will observe the flash from the Centaur's impact and 
fly through the debris plume. Data will be collected and streamed to 
LCROSS mission operations for analysis. Four minutes later, LCROSS 
also will impact, creating a second debris plume. 

"This mission is the culmination of a dedicated team that had a great 
idea," said Daniel Andrews, LCROSS project manager at Ames. "And now 
we'll engage people around the world in looking at the moon and 
thinking about our next steps there." 

The LCROSS science team will lead a coordinated observation campaign 
that includes LRO, the Hubble Space Telescope, observatories on 
Hawaii's Mauna Kea and amateur astronomers around the world. 

Ames manages LCROSS and also built the instrument payload. Northrop 
Grumman in Redondo Beach, Calif., built the spacecraft. 

The LCROSS mission is providing updates via @LCROSS_NASA on Twitter. 
To follow, visit: 

http://www.twitter.com/lcross_nasa 

For more information about the LCROSS mission, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/lcross   
	
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