Washington - US space agency NASA took a giant step toward
bringing humans back to the moon Tuesday as a new satellite went into
lunar orbit to search for water.
The LRO will send back data to help scientists find the best
location for a manned landing. The question of whether there is water
on the moon, in the form of ice deep inside lunar craters, is key to
the mission.
The new lunar mission paves the way for the next stage of the US
space programme - building a base on the moon as a launch pad for
further space exploration. In 2010, NASA is to retire the 28-year-old
shuttle programme which has helped to build the orbiting space
station. The new moon-bound manned spacecraft Orion is to be ready
by 2015.
The LRO, the first stage of a two-part mission launched on a
single rocket Thursday, entered an elliptical orbit so its seven-
instrument payload can be tested. After about 60 days, it will move
into a low orbit over the moon's poles to conduct its observations.
The second part, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing
Spacecraft (LCROSS), separated from the LRO craft shortly after
lift-off on Thursday to follow a different course. Along with a
piece of the Atlas rocket that boosted it into space, it is to enter
into an elongated, sweeping orbit that will take it around the Earth
and moon for the next four months.
In October, LCROSS and its rocket piece are to slam into a dark
crater near a lunar pole, kicking up a cloud of debris more than 10
km above the surface.
NASA hopes that if debris from the shadowed crater contains ice,
hydrocarbons or other organic materials, it will vaporize when it
hits sunlight.
USA
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