Since the LRO passed its Mission Rehersal today and is on track to launch on Wednesday next week, it seems like a good time to start a thread about the launch.

http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/launch.html

From the link above, there will be a pre-launch webcast on Tuesday morning.

The launch is scheduled for 3:51 PM EDT (12:51 PDT) which is 1951 GMT Wednesday June 17. [Corrected -- thanks Gsnorgathon!]

When it actually starts sending back pictures, someone should probably start a separate thread, but I think it makes sense to have the launch discussion separate from both the Development and the Cool Pictures threads.

--Greg

Go LRO! Hey, it kind of rhymes!

Boston (EDT) is 5 hours earlier than London so 3 + 5 +12 (for 24 vs 12) = 20. So launch will be 20:51 GMT the same day, June 17.

Will the delay to the latest Shuttle mission affect the launch schedule for LRO?

AFAICT, Floyd's mistaken. Because of Daylight Saving Time, you need to subtract 1 from the GMT offset. So the launch is scheduled for 1951 GMT.

That is true but for those of us who live in the UK\Ireland the local time is now in BST - British Summer Time - and it will be 20:51.

Too soon to tell:

"NASA managers want to get Endeavour off as soon as possible to avoid downstream delays for upcoming space station assembly missions as the shuttle program winds down toward retirement in 2010. But the LRO mission is a high priority as well and it's not yet clear how NASA might ultimately resolve the conflict."

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts127/090613scrub/

Thanks to mcaplinger for posting the useful http link. Now I have a better idea that to plan and prepare a launch needs lots of coordinations, choreography and synchronization between different areas. Not yet any space agency is able to manage multiple launch at very short time like an airport. It will be some day in the future with the technology of spaceport.

LRO's launch is pushed back to June 18, because the Shuttle is set to liftoff on June 17.
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/jun/H...unch_dates.html

Shuttle launch scrubbed 17 June

The Shuttle launc has been scrubbed again, for today. Unclear on how this affects plans for LRO on 18 June.

It won't affect the launch of LRO. It flies tomorrow.

I suspect time zones come into play here, but of course the scrub(s) do affect the launch of LRO.
The original Wednesday (US) launch was pushed back because of the first scrub.
The second scrub decision means that the Shuttle now stands aside for LRO to play through.
As noted above, first LRO launch attempt (1 second window) is now Thursday, June 18, at 5:12 p.m. US-EDT or 9:12pm GMT (UTC)
OR for the Canberra DSN (supporting the post launch acquisition) it will be 7.12am on Friday 19th June.
Not tomorrow that's for certain.

Let's just hope that the weather doesn't come into the game.

LRO Launch times for Thurs 18th. Also in the event of further postponement, Fri 19th and Sat 20th - 3 times per day.

Ames LRO news release

Forget the previous, this is better... we're looking at Thurs eve 5.12 pm EDT, 00:12am Friday UK summer time

Spaceflight now LRO launch blog

It looks like NASA TV coverage of the launch will begin at 2 p.m. June 18.

Heard on NASA TV that during the impact of LCROSS and it's lil' projectile, there will be live feed from the LCROSS mission control room, allowing us to see what's going on in real time. Anyone know where the link to that might be?

You realize that the LCROSS impact doesn't happen until October, right?

The rocket Centaur along with the shepherding space LCROSS will be traveling many elongated loops around Earth and Moon (going from South to North of Moon at 70 degree angle inclination) until the impact (both in a interval of 4 minutes, First Centaur and later LCROSS) at approximately October 8, 2009.

More

5.12pm Eastern is 10.12pm UK time. I'm not sure where you're getting 00:!2 frmo.

You're right, I was confusing my a.m's and p.m's. The current schedule still seems to be 5.12pm Thurs EDT, 10:12pm UK summer time. Apologies.

This is very important, thanks for this! LRO is actually going to travel just four days, while it will take a lot more time for LCROSS to reach the lunar surface.

An MCS is progressing towards the cape, thunderstorms might interfere with the launch.

Rain radar

It will take a while for LCROSS to arrive, but we do get some calibration images during the swingby in only a few days.

Phil

Haha, .... uh no. I didn't know that until rather late last night. I assumed that the two would go to the moon, and LCROSS would impact it shortly after LRO goes into oribt. But it makes sense now, about LCROSS having to spend some time to get the orbit right (and thus angle of impact).

I haven't followed the LCROSS mission... *blush*

Nominal impact date for a launch today (18th) is 9th Oct 11:30:00 UTC

One of the guys at ARC was kind enough to send me a snippet of STK pos/vel/attitude data for the LCROSS-Centaur lunar flyby trajectory for the 21st June launch opportunity. Here's a couple of Celestia renderings of the instrument calibration pointing sequence(about 1hr after closest approach). First clip is external view, second clip is instrument line-of-sight, both at 20x time accel.

External view:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfwDFdunJCQ

Instrument line-of-sight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2BXCgCqvj8

Good luck LRO and LCROSS! (and keep that rain away for the next 3hrs !)

Regards,
Brian

cool! Thank you!

Read somewhere that Hubble will point towards the impact as well. Great photo opportunity!

And, I'm glad LRO will settle the silly conspiracy theories on the Apollo landings.

I hope so, but I think it won't. The hardcore conspiracists will now say that the images are Photoshopped. Even if you take them to the lunar surface, they will still say it's fake: They will claim that the footprints were taken later when the technology was better.

No, they won't believe you've actually taken them to the moon and show you this as proof: Astro Smurf

One of the deniers is busy flooding the Google Lunar X Prize forum with nonsense. (Hi, Sock!) There the obvious retort is - join a team and go see for yourself. But it's a waste of time. Not because they can't be convinced - because they know it's a lie from day one. The folk at the top don't believe it. They have other agendas.

Phil

... which are MAKING MONEY!

LRO launch isn't certain... We hope that the skies will clear, but it's not sure...

Looking good now for 5:32. The LROC site says they've launched - they didn't update the launch time!

Phil

Launch team polled. LRO is go for launch!

Proceeding with count!

I've seen rocket cams before, but never on a NASA-TV live broadcast of a launch. Thrilling.

TTT

And now we've had shot of the payload under the fairing. Amazing. Think of the rocket engineers who went through their careers without ever seeing a shot like that.

TTT

MECO! Main engine cutoff!

That rocket cam shot rising through the clouds was awesome!

I'm actually in Florida, so I went out on the balcony to look, but I'm afraid we're just a bit too far away to see it from here. Maybe if it had been a night launch. Still, it was cool to follow it online.

--Greg

LRO just successfully separated from the rocket! Congratulations all!

Separation .
I too tried to see it but it launched due east. I can see the shuttle when it goes NE but East is no good.

Looks good. Next significant news will be Lunar Orbit insertion on Tuesday morning at 5:43 a.m. EDT (0943 GMT).

From Spaceflight Now "T+plus 44 minutes, 45 seconds. SPACECRAFT SEPARATION! The Centaur upper stage has deployed the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on its direct trajectory for the Moon. "

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av020/status.html

--Greg

It seems so weird to read that LRO will reach its destination Tuesday morning,, we usually have many months or even years to wait for that.

Well... the same applies for LCROSS (just kidding)

Naw... I can remember watching Ranger IX's launch, and then watching the pictures from its video cameras come streaming in "live from the Moon" three days later. And, of course, I'm used to this kind of timing from all those Apollo flights.

I suppose that when you are limited to relatively small boosters and need to get as much mass out to the Moon as you can for the least number of ergs expended, it makes sense to run orbits out farther and farther and to arrive at the Moon months after launch. (That does have its own costs, of course, not least of which is the repeated passage of your probe through the most energetic portions of Earth's Van Allen belts.) But if you have a heavy-lift booster, it can make sense to just get out there as fast as you reasonably can.

I also imagine that LCROSS needs a fairly fast approach to create the big, looping orbits it needs to achieve its desired impact geometry. All told, I imagine this mission simply requires the faster, more direct translunar trajectory.

I'm glad she's off, though, and I'm glad we'll be seeing high-res images of old familiar places (plus new, exciting places) very soon. At least partially as an accident of my birthdate, I've become quite fascinated with lunar geology -- I'm really looking forward to some of the really kewl things we're about to see!



-the other Doug

I was playing around with the spreadsheet of the LRO priority targets. I found it interesting to do a sort on the priorities...25 Priority 1 targets, 1800+ Priority 2 targets, and 4400+ Priority 3 targets! I really appreciated the detail in the spreadsheet regarding why certain targets were identified as highest priority. It wasn't necessarily just to do with possible ice or potential for a lunar outpost, but many of the Priority 1 targets were suspected either to be the youngest or the oldest areas on the surface of the Moon.

Launch video (lotsa rocketcam with voiceover + sound from ground) on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-5t4de6jjI...feature=related

About the speed trayectory of LRO/LCROSS from Earth toward Moon, I am still trying to learn and understand its evolution speed. However, I know that the minimum velocity required to escape from Earth gravity is around 11.6 kp/s and I have noticed thru the other source of information that the spacecraft was reducing its speed from 5 kp/s at about 35,000 km from Earth, 4kp/s even further from Earth. Then I tought that the LRO/LCROSS didn't reach the 11.6 kp/s to escape from Earth gravity in its way toward to Moon but at lower speed...

Then I realized the spacecraft speed will be reducing to the minimum speed until the Selene gravity captures it.

Is that my tought correct? Thanks for any comments.

Mostly, but when the spacecraft gets closer to Selene, it's gravity will cause LCROSS and LRO to accelerate (as they're then falling toward Selene).

According to NASA-Twitter, the midcourse correction burn was completed successfully. Also they have switched on the Russian instrument - LEND.

Thanks, so, the conclusion is that the spacecraft LRO/LCROSS didn't reach the speed of Earth's escape gravity since its speed is already decreasing on its way toward to the Moon.

When the spacecraft will start to pick up the speed? I tought it would be when the spacecraft is already traveled 5/6 of Earth-Moon distance (320,000 km)?