Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

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Image:LRO 2006.jpg The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is an unmanned orbiter planned for launch to the Moon in October 2008 aboard either a Atlas 5 or Delta IV. It is an early element of the implementation of the United States Vision for Space Exploration and its objectives are primarily to support that policy, such as surveying lunar resources and identifying possible landing sites. The preliminary design review was completed in February 2006. It will undergo a critical design review in third quarter of 2006.

Areas of investigation will include: [1]

The lunar radiation environment
The lunar polar regions, including possible water ice deposits
High-resolution mapping (max 0.5 m) to assist in the selection of landing sites

Under development by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, LRO is planned to be a large and sophisticated spacecraft in a polar orbit for a nominal mission of one Earth year. An optional extended phase of the mission (up to 5 years) could provide a communications relay for other future ground lunar missions, such as moon lander or rover. The project is still in the early planning stages.

Image:LCROSS separated.jpg Piggy-backing on the launch of LRO will be the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), which is designed to watch as the launch vehicle's upper stage impacts the Shackleton crater. Spectral analysis of the resulting explosion will help to confirm preliminary findings by the Clementine mission which hinted that there may be water ice in the crater. LCROSS will fly through the debris plume, then fifteen minutes later will itself impact into a different part of the crater. The two impacts, which should be easily visible to amateur astronomers, will also be monitored by Earth-based observatories and possibly by the Indian Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter also planned for 2008. The addition of the LCROSS payload came about after NASA changed LRO to a larger rocket from the Delta II. It was chosen from 19 other proposals.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

LRO's high-resolution mapping will show some of the larger pieces of equipment previously left on the Moon.

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