NASA Is Returning to the Moon
2009
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter - From jpl.nasa.gov
NASA is returning to the moon. Great! We should have never left.
Yesterday, NASA launched an Atlas V rocket carrying a series of scientific instruments. These instruments help prepare NASA for a human return to the moon in about ten years. One of the instruments is the LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter). This is a satellite that will create a 3-D map of the moon’s surface similar to what the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter did for Mars. We should get some fantastic images from it.
The second instrument on the rocket is a satellite called LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite). Its goal is to observe as spent parts of the satellite are crashed into craters and probe for evidence of water on the moon.
In a few days or weeks, we should be getting images from the LRO. They should be much better than any images of the moon we have seen in the past. For those of us who are interested in space exploration, this is very exciting stuff. Over time, there will be more launches of lunar satellites and rovers before we send men (and women) back to the moon. Stay tuned.
aaron
