Lunar Prospector

Lunar Prospector (about: " Moon Daddy Issues") was an American space probe that explored the Moon from 1998 to 1999.

Mission

According to the results of the mission Clementine the goal of Lunar Prospector was clear evidence of water ice at the poles of the moon.

Lunar Prospector weighed around 300 kilograms and was started with a Athena II rocket. The mission cost only 62.8 million U.S. dollars; which accounted for 34 million U.S. dollars to the probe and 25 million dollars on the launcher. The orbiter was equipped with six scientific experiments. As a special " cargo " he wore a capsule the size of a lipstick with a few grams of the ashes of the 1997 Eugene Shoemaker unfortunate astronomers. After the end of the mission, a supplement was provided to the moon for the probe, in which they would be destroyed. This possible water ice should be released.

Course

  • Lunar Prospector was launched on January 6, 1998.
  • The probe reached on 11 January 1998, a polar orbit around the Moon.
  • The mission ended by impact of the probe on the moon on July 31, 1999.

Results

Lunar Prospector succeeded in the relatively safe detection of water ice on the moon by neutron spectroscopy. It involves approximately four billion tons on the moon north pole and about two billion tons on the Moon South Pole. The ice is not free, but is mixed with the rock. However, it was observed during the impact of Lunar Prospector released no ice. The impact took place in an unnamed crater near the lunar south pole. Shoemaker's name was suggested for this target crater.

The probe also provided data for the production of a global map of the moon of the lunar gravity field, which allows future missions safer and more fuel-efficient plan (see also: Mascon ).

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