NASA Lunar Satellite Begins Detailed Mapping of Moon's South Pole

GREENBELT, Md., Sept. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA reported Thursday
that its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has successfully completed its
testing and calibration phase and entered its mapping orbit of the moon. The
spacecraft already has made significant progress toward creating the most
detailed atlas of the moon's south pole to date. Scientists released
preliminary images and data from LRO's seven instruments.

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"The LRO mission already has begun to give us new data that will lead to a
vastly improved atlas of the lunar south pole and advance our capability for
human exploration and scientific benefit," said Richard Vondrak, LRO project
scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

LRO is scheduled for a one-year exploration mission in a polar orbit of about
31 miles above the lunar surface, the closest any spacecraft has orbited the
moon. During the next year, LRO will produce a complete map of the lunar
surface in unprecedented detail, search for resources and safe landing sites
for human explorers, and measure lunar temperatures and radiation levels.

"The LRO instruments, spacecraft, and ground systems continue to operate
essentially flawlessly," said Craig Tooley, LRO project manager at Goddard.
"The team completed the planned commissioning and calibration activities on
time and also got a significant head start collecting data even before we
moved to the mission's mapping orbit."

The south pole of the moon is of great interest to explorers because potential
resources such as water ice or hydrogen may exist there. Permanently shadowed
polar craters that are bitterly cold at their bottoms may hold deposits of
water ice or hydrogen from comet impacts or the solar wind. The deposits may
have accumulated in these "cold-trap" regions over billions of years. If
enough of these resources exist to make mining practical, future long-term
human missions to the moon potentially could save the considerable expense of
hauling water from Earth.

First results from LRO's Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector, or LEND, indicate
that permanently shadowed and nearby regions may harbor water and hydrogen.
Additional observations will be needed to confirm this. LEND relies on a
decrease in neutron radiation from the lunar surface to indicate the presence
of water or hydrogen.

"If these deposits are present, an analysis of them will help us understand
the interaction of the moon with the rest of the solar system," Vondrak said.

Data from LRO's Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter, or LOLA, however, indicates
that exploring these areas will be challenging because the terrain is very
rough. The roughness is probably a result of the lack of atmosphere and
absence of erosion from wind or water, according to David Smith, LOLA
principal investigator at Goddard.

LRO's other instruments also are providing data to help map the moon's terrain
and resources. According to the first measurements from the Diviner
instrument, large areas in the permanently shadowed craters are about minus
400 degrees Fahrenheit (33 Kelvin), more than cold enough to store water ice
or hydrogen for billions of years.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera is providing high-resolution images of
permanently shadowed regions while lighting conditions change as the moon's
south pole enters lunar summer.

LRO's Lyman Alpha Mapping Project, or LAMP, also is preparing to search for
surface ice and frost in the polar regions. The instrument provides images of
permanently shadowed regions illuminated only by starlight and the glow of
interplanetary hydrogen emission. LAMP has provided information to confirm the
instrument is working well on both the lunar night and day sides.

The Mini RF Technology Demonstration on LRO has confirmed communications
capability and produced detailed radar images of potential targets for LRO's
companion mission, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, which
will impact the moon's south pole on Oct. 9.

Meanwhile, LRO's Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation instrument
is exploring the lunar radiation environment and its potential effects on
humans during record high, "worst-case" cosmic ray intensities accompanying
the extreme solar minimum conditions of this solar cycle.

Goddard built and manages LRO, a NASA mission with international participation
from the Institute for Space Research in Moscow. Russia provides the neutron
detector aboard the spacecraft.

For more information about LRO and to view the new images, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/lro

SOURCE NASA

Grey Hautaluoma, Headquarters, Washington, +1-202-358-0668,
grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov; Nancy Neal Jones/Bill Steigerwald, Goddard Space
Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., 301-286-0039/5017, nancy.n.jones@nasa.gov,
william.a.steigerwald@nasa.gov, all of NASA