Space News by Jeff Foust — December 10, 2018
A NASA spacecraft originally built as part of the previous effort to return humans to the moon is now playing a key role in the new effort at human lunar return, including aiding commercial landers.
One element of the Vision for Space Exploration, announced by President George W. Bush in 2004, was a series of robotic missions to the moon intended to start no later than 2008. The first such mission was an orbiter to collect high-resolution imagery of the lunar surface and other data to assist planning for future robotic and lunar lander missions.
That spacecraft, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), eventually launched in 2009, even as the Obama administration was revisiting those broader lunar exploration plans. While the Vision for Space Exploration’s lunar plans were ultimately cancelled, NASA continued to operate LRO as a science mission.
LRO remains operational today, and has about 20 kilograms of fuel left on board, Noah Petro, LRO project scientist, said at a meeting of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) Nov. 15. “That may not seem like a lot, but we don’t go through much fuel on an annual basis,†he said, primarily to manage the spacecraft’s momentum and make minor orbit adjustments.
“All told, we have approximately seven years of fuel remaining,†he said. That could decrease, he said, if the spacecraft performs additional maneuvers, such as to phase its orbit to observe specific activities like lunar landings.
More:
https://spacenews.com/nasa-lunar-orbiter-now-supporting-commercial-and-international-missions/
