Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Successfully Completes Critical Design Review
December 7, 2006
This is an artist's concept of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft in orbit around the moon. Credit: NASA
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) successfully completed its Critical Design Review (CDR) on Thursday, November 9, 2006.
The review was held to present the complete system design developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and to make sure that technical issues have been properly addressed. Additionally, it ensured that the design maturity justifies the start of manufacturing mission hardware and software. As a result of this major assessment, NASA's independent review board provided a green light for proceeding into the fabrication and integration phase of the project.
The first in a series of robotic missions to the moon, the lunar orbiter is scheduled for launch in October 2008. It will carry six science instruments and a technology demonstration. The mission goal is to expand the coverage and accuracy of lunar maps and environmental data, enabling selection of landing sites for future robotic and human lunar missions.
"LRO will lead the way for NASA to reduce many of the major physical uncertainties in the basic definition of the moon itself, especially filling in gaps in our understanding of lunar topography, temperature, and resources including potential hydrogen and water, and in the information about the lunar poles," said Tony Lavoie, NASA's Lunar Precursor and Robotic Program Manager. "A solid performance as a result of this CDR review allows us to have high confidence that the LRO team at Goddard will make it to the launch pad on time for this crucial launch." LRO is part of NASA's Lunar Precursor and Robotic Program, located at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
The LRO Critical Design Review began November 6, 2006 at NASA Goddard in Greenbelt, Md., where LRO will be built. The independent review board, comprised of reviewers from NASA and several external organizations, heard presentations on all aspects of LRO design. Presentations included the spacecraft construction and systems integration, the science operations center, testing, and safety requirements.
Critical Design Reviews are one-time programmatic events that bridge the design and manufacturing stages of a project. A successful review means that the design is validated and will meet its requirements, is backed up with solid analysis and documentation, and has been proven to be safe. LRO's CDR completion grants Goddard permission to begin manufacturing hardware.
Source: NASA
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (31) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Never ending outer space.....
1 hour ago
-
Neutron Star fragments?
3 hours ago
-
stationary or not?
7 hours ago
-
Scale of the Universe
Feb 10, 2012
-
Titan's lack of impact craters
Feb 09, 2012
-
Real pictures of black hole eating a star?
Feb 08, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - General Astronomy
More news stories
Europe stakes billion-dollar bet on new rocket
A pencil-slim rocket is scheduled to lift into space from South America on Monday, carrying a billion-dollar bet that Europe can grab a juicy slice of the market to place satellites in low orbit.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
13 hours ago |
3.5 / 5 (2) |
0
Political leaders play key role in how worried Americans are by climate change: study
More than extreme weather events and the work of scientists, it is national political leaders who influence how much Americans worry about the threat of climate change, new research finds.
Feb 06, 2012 |
5 / 5 (6) |
72
NASA budget will axe Mars deal with Europe: scientists
US President Barack Obama's budget proposal to be submitted next week for 2013 will cut NASA's budget by 20 percent and eliminate a major partnership with Europe on Mars exploration, scientists said Thursday.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Feb 10, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
47
Humans may have helped the decline of African rainforests 3000 years ago
(PhysOrg.com) -- Large areas of rainforests in Central Africa mysteriously disappeared over three thousand years ago, to be replaced by savannas. The prevailing theory has been that the cause was a change ...
Could Venus be shifting gear?
(PhysOrg.com) -- ESAs Venus Express spacecraft has discovered that our cloud-covered neighbour spins a little slower than previously measured. Peering through the dense atmosphere in the infrared, the ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Feb 10, 2012 |
5 / 5 (8) |
10
|
Walney offshore wind farm is world's biggest (for now)
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Walney wind farm on the Irish Sea--characterized by high tides, waves and windy weather--officially opened this week. The farm is treated in the press as a very big deal as the Walney ...
GPS court ruling leaves US phone tracking unclear
A US Supreme Court decision requiring a warrant to place a GPS device on the car of a criminal suspect leaves unresolved the bigger issue of police tracking using mobile phones, legal experts say.
Europeans protest controversial Internet pact
Tens of thousands of people marched in protests in more than a dozen European cities Saturday against a controversial anti-online piracy pact that critics say could curtail Internet freedom.
Study finds that anti-diabetic medication can prevent the long-term effects of maternal obesity
In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, in Dallas, Texas, researchers will report findings that show that short therapy with the anti-diabetic medication ...
Netflix settlement trims 14 pct off 4Q earnings
(AP) -- Netflix pressed the rewind button on its fourth-quarter earnings after settling allegations that the video subscription service violated a consumer-privacy law.
Steroid injections prove effective in treatment of lumbar disc herniations
The use of epidural steroid injections may be a more efficient treatment option for lumbar disc herniations, according to research presented today at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Specialty Day in ...