The United States’ first steps back to the moon will receive a boost from a Colorado- built rocket.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) are scheduled to lift off today.
Taking the vehicles aloft will be an Atlas V rocket. This is familiar territory for the Atlas family — once built by Lockheed Martin — which launched seven Surveyor lunar landers in the 1960s that paved the way for the Apollo missions.
“In one sense, Atlas is returning to its roots,” said Vern Thorp, program manager of NASA missions for rocket builder United Launch Alliance of Centennial.
The LRO will probe resources, landing sites and the radiation environment to help prepare for human missions to the moon. LCROSS aims to confirm whether water ice exists in a permanently shadowed crater near the moon’s south pole.
For ULA, a 2 1/2-year-old joint venture between Lockheed and Boeing, this will be the seventh launch this year and the second aboard an Atlas V.
But this one will be different than the others, Thorp said Wednesday.
The Atlas’ Centaurus upper stage will perform “a unique set of maneuvers we’ve never done before,” he said.
After launch, the Atlas’ expended Centaur upper stage and LCROSS will reverse roles, with the Centaur becoming LCROSS’ payload.
The Centaur and LCROSS will enter an elongated orbit of the moon. After the upper stage and LCROSS separate, the Centaur will crash into the crater, creating a debris plume.
LCROSS will collect and relay data on the makeup of the debris as it flies through the plume. Minutes later, LCROSS also will slam into the moon.
Today’s launch windows are at 3:12 p.m., 3:22 p.m. and 3:32 p.m., all MDT. If the liftoff is postponed, the windows are at 4:41 p.m., 4:51 p.m. and 5:01 p.m. MDT Friday.
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com
