MISSION DESIGN AND OPERATIONS CONSIDERATIONS FOR NASA'S LUNAR RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER

摘要

Set to launch in October 2008, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will be the first observatory to ever spend an entire year orbiting the moon at an unrivalled altitude of just 50 km. This will provide an extraordinary opportunity to look into the lunar landscape at resolutions and over time scales never achieved before. LRO has specific observation objectives that constrain its launch window to 2-3 day periods every two weeks, with one launch opportunity on each of those days. LRO is following a direct, minimum energy transfer to the moon, culminating in a critical lunar orbit insertion burn about 4-5 days after launch. LRO is carrying 6 primary instruments and 1 technology demonstration, and its on-board data storage and communication systems, as well as its ground station network and systems, are sized to handle the unprecedented amount of data that will be generated by these instruments. While in lunar orbit, LRO will require a number of routine maintenance activities, including bi-monthly momentum management maneuvers, monthly station-keeping maneuvers, and bi-annual spacecraft yaw maneuvers. Finally, LRO is being designed to survive the long lunar eclipses that it will encounter if operated late into the 2010 timeframe.