LCROSS Site Selection Workshop

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LCROSS Site Selection Workshop
Introduction to Workshop and Overview of
Process Dr. Jennifer L. Heldmann NASA Ames
Research Center / SETI Institute
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Purpose and Scope
The primary objective of the LCROSS mission is to
help advance the Vision for Space Exploration by
investigating the presence of water on the Moon.
LCROSS 1) is a co-manifested payload launching
with LRO in October 2008. 2) will use the impact
of its upper stage launch vehicle to enable a
monitoring spacecraft following closely behind to
study the composition of lunar regolith in a
permanently shadowed region. 3) will produce an
ejecta cloud to be imaged and studied in detail
spectroscopically in order to directly measure
the concentration of water and to characterize
other physical and compositional properties of
permanently shadowed lunar regolith.
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Target Selection
LCROSS Targeting Criteria The LCROSS targeting
requirement which flows down from the Level 2
requirement (owned by LPRP) to impact
Shackleton, is /- 10 km, but we anticipate a
capability of /- 5 km given the current lunar
geodetic map. LPRP Lunar Precursor and
Robotic Program, NASA Marshall Space
Flight Center.
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Target Selection
LCROSS Targeting Criteria The LCROSS targeting
requirement which flows down from the Level 2
requirement (owned by LPRP) to impact
Shackleton, is /- 10 km, but we anticipate a
capability of /- 5 km given the current lunar
geodetic map. The impact shall occur
poleward of 70 latitude at either lunar pole.
in a region of permanent shadow in a region on
the lunar nearside such that the impact plume is
observable to ground-based observatories and
Earth-orbiting assets
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Process
All members of the scientific community have
been invited to present their recommendations for
potential LCROSS impact sites. Workshop agenda
finalized by Science Organizing
Committee SOC Dr. Jennifer L. Heldmann (NASA
ARC, LCROSS Science Team, Obs. Campaign
Coordinator) Dr. Tony Colaprete (NASA ARC, LCROSS
PI) Dr. Geoffrey Briggs (NASA ARC, LCROSS Deputy
PI) Dr. Don Korycansky (UC Santa Cruz, LCROSS
Science Team) Dr. Peter Schultz (Brown Univ.,
LCROSS Science Team) Each proposed site will
be discussed in an open forum (ample opportunity
during todays Workshop for discussion).
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Process
LCROSS Site Selection Committee Dr. Peter
Schultz (Brown University, LCROSS Project) Dr.
Ben Bussey (APL, LPRP) Dr. Richard Elphic (Los
Alamos Natl Lab, LP Neutron Expert) Dr. David
Paige (UCLA, LRO Instrument PI) Dr. Jeffrey Moore
(NASA ARC, Lunar Science) Dr. Christopher McKay
(NASA ARC, Constellation Office)
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Process
Site Selection Committee (based on inputs from
this Workshop) will provide an assessment of the
best place(s) to impact. Site Selection
Committee provides list of site(s) and
rationale for each site to the LCROSS
Project. Recommendations are due November 22,
2006.
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Site Selection Committee (based on inputs from
this Workshop) will provide an assessment of the
best place(s) to impact. Site Selection
Committee provides list of site(s) and
rationale for each site to the LCROSS
Project. Recommendations are due November 22,
2006. Then the Project will determine the
impact to the Project for the recommended
site(s). The Project then provides NASA
Headquarters and LPRP the candidate site(s) along
with the impact to the Project for each site.
NASA HQ and LPRP make the final site selection
decision.
Process
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Process
Baseline impact site (listed in LCROSS
Requirements document) is Shackleton Crater.
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Process
The Site Selection Committee will remain intact
to provide further recommendations (if
applicable) based on the acquisition of
additional lunar data prior to the LCROSS impact.
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Meeting Logistics
All presentations in Conference Center
Ballroom. Wireless login and password See
paper inserted behind your nametag. Food and
drink on back table in Ballroom - please help
yourself! Lunch will be off-site (recommend
Castro Street, downtown Mountain View).
Afternoon presenters Please bring me your
presentations sometime during the lunch break and
we will load onto our laptop. Meeting ends
promptly at 500 p.m.
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