| NASA Center: |
Ames Research Center |
|---|
| Image # : |
ACD97-0047-6 |
|---|
| Date : |
01/01/1997
|
|---|
|
Title
Lunar Prospector in Clean Room
Full Description
The fully assembled Lunar Prospector spacecraft is shown mated atop the
Star 37 Trans Lunar Injection module. Lunar Prospector represented the
first NASA spacecraft to revisit the Moon in 25 years. In December of
1972 Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt were the
last humans to set foot upon the Moon and the last NASA mission to
visit the lunar frontier.
On January 6, 1998 at 9:28 p.m., Lunar Prospector was launched from
Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard a Lockheed Martin Athena II rocket. Also
onboard were the ash remains of astrogeologist Eugene M. Shoemaker. A
scientist from the U.S. Geological Survey, he was detailed to NASA and
helped train Apollo astronauts in lunar geology. However, as co-
founder of a "rogue string" of comet fragments, his name will forever
be linked to the much hearlded Shoemaker-Levy 9 cometary impact of the
planet Jupiter in 1995. Lunar Prospector mapped the Moon's elemental
composition, gravity fields, magnetic fields and resources. Prospector
provided insights into the origin and evolution of the Moon.
One of the most significant finds by Lunar Prospector was confirmation
that there could be as much as 10 billion tons of subsurface frozen
water near the Moon's polar region. The Lunar Prospector mission came
to a creative and daring conclusion when on July 31, 1999 at 2:52:00.8
a.m. PDT Mission Control Ames directed the spacecraft to a crash landing
into a deep crater near the Moon's South pole.
The hope was that the impact might release trapped water vapor. However
no visible debris plume was detected by numerous observatories
monitoring the event. This lack of direct evidence has not diminished
the hope or belief that subsurface frozen water does exist.
Keywords
Lunar Prospector Star 37 Lockheed Martin Athena II Apollo 17 Eugene Shoemaker Astrogeology
Subject Category
Earths Moon, Lunar Probes, Apollo 17,
Reference Numbers
- Center:
AMES
- Center Number:
ACD97-0047-6
- GRIN DataBase Number:
GPN-2000-001543
Source Information
- Creator/Photographer: NASA
- Original Source: DIGITAL
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Other relevant NASA Web sites:
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• NASA Image eXchange (NIX)
• NASA Multimedia Gallery
• NASA Human Spaceflight
Updated October 31, 2002
• History Questions: NASA History Office
• Responsible NASA Official: Steve Garber
• Author: Michael Hahn. Editor: Dwayne A. Day
• Curator & Technical Questions: Erin Needham
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