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LRO Enters Orbit Around the Moon
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jun 29, 2009 The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has successfully entered orbit around the moon following a nearly five-day journey. Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., confirmed the spacecraft's lunar orbit insertion at 6:27 a.m. EDT on June 23. A series of four engine burns through June 27 will finalize LRO's initial orbit. During this phase, each of its seven instruments is checked out and brought online. LRO Project Manager Craig Tooley reports that LEND and CRaTER are already online and working well. The LRO satellite will explore the moon's deepest craters, examining permanently sunlit and shadowed regions, and provide understanding of the effects of lunar radiation on humans. LRO will return more data about the moon than any previous mission. The spacecraft's instruments will help scientists compile high resolution, three-dimensional maps of the lunar surface and also survey it at many spectral wavelengths. At 8:25 a.m. EDT on June 26, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter executed LOI-4. The 10-minute burn placed LRO in a 200 km circular polar orbit. Now in this low circular polar orbit, operations will begin to resemble the nominal mission with ground station passes coming and going on a regular frequency as the spacecraft passes behind the moon each orbit. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links LRO Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Lunar Dreams and more
General Dynamics Provides Communications Link For Lunar Mapping MissionFairfax VA (SPX) Jun 26, 2009 General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems is providing the communications link for NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission launched on June 18, 2009. The mission will use General Dynamics-made transceivers to communicate with ground control as it maps and studies the lunar environment. General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics. ... read more |
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