Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS)

The Mission Objectives of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) include confirming the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at the Moon's South Pole. The identification of water is very important to the future of human activities on the Moon. LCROSS will excavate the permanently dark floor of one of the Moon's polar craters with two heavy impactors in 2009 to test the theory that ancient ice lies buried there. The impact will eject material from the crater's surface to create a plume that specialized instruments will be able to analyze for the presence of water (ice and vapor), hydrocarbons and hydrated materials.

LCROSS will also provide technologies and modular, reconfigurable subsystems that can be used to support future mission architectures.

Ames Research Center (ARC) is managing the mission, conducting mission operations, and has developed the payload instruments, while Northrop Grumman designed and built the spacecraft for this innovative mission. Ames mission scientists will spearhead the data analysis. This is a fast-paced, low-cost, mission that will leverage some existing NASA systems, Northrop-Grumman spacecraft expertise, and Ames' Lunar Prospector experience.

Scheduled for launch no earlier than June 17, 2009, LCROSS will travel to the Moon as a co-manifested payload aboard the launch vehicle for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). LRO is designed to map the lunar surface and characterize landing sites for future missions.

Kepler Mission NASA Launch Schedule web page.

L-14 (14 days before launch) Press Conference Media Resources
full Press Kit (3 Mb pdf)

Kepler Will Help Develop Future Planet-Finding Spacecraft. In his column for Space.com (1/14) Leonard David wrote on the Kepler space telescope, due to be launched in March. The telescope "harness[es] a trio of key capabilities: pointing accuracy, a very large field of view and low-noise electronics to maximize the ability to read data from the sensitive detection system." Once launched and making measurements, Kepler "rolls every 30 days to align a fixed high-gain antenna to download that month's gathered readings to NASA's Deep Space Network. Kepler also carries out a 90-degree roll every 90 days to keep its solar panels always pointed at the sun, [Ball Aerospace program manager John] Troeltzsch noted." Ball Aerospace developed the telescope. Principle investigator Bill Borucki of the Ames Research Center "said Kepler is a step forward, offering...capability that will support future decision-making about building more powerful spacecraft to home in on candidate worlds capable of sustaining life."

NASA Evaluating Use Of Suborbital Spacecraft. Discovery News (1/14, Klotz) reported, "There's a new customer lining up for rides aboard commercial spaceships being designed to ferry passengers into suborbital space -- NASA." NASA is interested in what science can be done using suborbital flights and is now "reviewing 20 proposals from scientists interested in participating in the program. The agency has about $400,000 to fund up to eight study grants, said Jonathan Rall, with NASA's Planetary Sciences division." According to project manager Lisa Chu-Thielbar of the Ames Research Center, suborbital flights would be cheaper than the typical sounding rocket, which are also potentially not recoverable. "In addition to studies of Earth's atmosphere, scientists have proposed particle physics experiments, a genetics test, investigations to monitor the sun, an astrophysical experiment related to the theory of relativity, and several materials science exposure runs, NASA said." A decision on which experiments to fund is expected in March.

Students Work At Mars Desert Research Station. Popular Science (1/5, Schmidt) discussed the Mars Desert Research Station, "a simulated Mars habitat that serves as a testbed for field operations studies in preparation for future human missions to Mars" where from "December 27 to January 2, six college students served as the MDRS crew, as participants in NASA's Spaceward Bound program." The program is an "educational program whose goal is to train the next generation of space explorers by having students and teachers participate in the exploration of scientifically interesting but remote and extreme environments."

New and Noteworthy:

At left, Division Scientist Darlene Lim sampling water from a lake on Devon Island, Nunavut. The myriad of lakes and ponds in the Canadian High Arctic are important to understanding past, present and future environmental conditions. These aquatic systems are under-going ecological change in response to recent global warming. Follow this link to see images Darlene took in the Canadian High Arctic.

Nathalie Cabrol reports on her exciting and successful field work from the mountains in South America. 'We stayed 5 days and 4 nights in the mountain mostly around 5,916 m. While this was physically tough, the reward was immense as we successfully completed all of our science, including our two planned scuba dives in the summit lake of the volcano....' Click here to read her letter, or visit the highlakes web page.

Louis Allamandola recently won three great honors. He was elected a fellow by two prestigious science organizations, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society. He was also recognized with The Presidential Rank Award, one of the highest honors a civilian can receive. He is being recognised for 'seminal contributions in astrochemistry that have forever revolutionized our understanding of interstellar molecules, interstellar ices, and the chemical physics of the interstellar medium.' Read more about Dr. Allamandola and why he is famous by following this link.

At the latest meeting of the Division of Planetary Science (DPS) in Pasadena our own Dale Cruikshank was awarded the highly prestigious Gerard P. Kuiper Prize in recognition of his pioneering work in the application of infrared spectroscopy to solar system bodies, his development of laboratory techniques that have become tools for interpreting observations, and his leadership in the design of instruments for remote sensing observations from deep space planetary exploration probes.

An image of microbial mats taken by division scientist Lee Bebout from their Baja Mexico Field site was recently the cover shot for the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. this image is associated with the article 'Unexpected Diversity and Complexity of the Guerrero Negro Hypersaline Microbial Mat' co-authored by division scientist Brad M. Bebout. For more information go to the AEM website.