Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Mission: Opportunities for Observations of the Impact Plumes from Ground-based and Space-based Telescopes

Details Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Mission: Opportunities for Observations of the Impact Plumes from Ground-based and Space-based Telescopes Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Mission: Opportunities for Observations of the Impact Plumes from Ground-based and Space-based Telescopes

May 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007aas...21010804h&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society Meeting 210, #108.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.233

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The Lunar Crater and Observation Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) will provide a unique opportunity for the astronomical community to observe a lunar impact plume and obtain data regarding lunar regolith, impact dynamics, and the presence or absence of water ice near the poles, among other science and exploration objectives. The mission, which is a comanifested payload launching with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in October 2008, will use the Earth departure upper stage (EDUS) of the launch vehicle as a kinetic impactor. The impact creates an ejecta plume whose properties will be observed a shepherding spacecraft (S-S/C) plus Earth- and space- based telescopes. Following a similar trajectory of the EDUS, the S-S/C will fly through the EDUS impact plume and then the S-S/C will also impact the Moon. The S-S/C impact will likely also be observable to ground-based and space-based telescopes.
The mass of the EDUS is 2000 kg and the mass of the S-S/C is 700 kg. The EDUS and S-S/C will impact at a relatively high angle of incidence (>60Ëš) with an impact velocity of 2.5 km/s. Both of these events are hundreds of times larger than Lunar Prospector which was 1) a smaller spacecraft, 2) traveling more slowly than LCROSS, and 3) impacted obliquely.
There are a variety of ground-based and orbital observatories that can observe the dust and water plumes plus a resultant OH exosphere caused by the LCROSS impacts. The LCROSS team encourages astronomers and planetary scientists to observe the impacts to support the scientific and exploration objectives of this mission. The LCROSS project is committed to working with the observational scientists to provide mission information that is critical to the planning and proposal of observations. In this way the LCROSS project aims to develop a coordinated observation campaign utilizing ground-based and space-based observational assets.

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