June 17, 2009
It's turning out to be a busy, chaotic week at the Kennedy Space Center.
You would expect that, considering that NASA has two major launches scheduled. As I wrote about yesterday (see below), the space shuttle Endeavour was scheduled to launch early this morning, and everyone was brimming with anticipation. But NASA had to scrub the launch for a second time because of a leak detected in the gaseous hydrogen venting system outside the shuttle's external fuel tank. These things happen, and it's better to be safe than sorry, of course, but still it can be frustrating — most of all for those most closely involved in the planned flight.
So, Endeavour has now been moved back to July 11. The good news is that means the LRO launch has actually been moved up — to early Thursday evening. That's tomorrow!
Now that we have a date and time, the meetings for the Diviner instrument (of which I'm a team member) and the other instruments are going gangbusters. The Diviner sessions are being led by Principal Investigator Dr. David Paige, a professor in planetary science at the University of California at Los Angeles. The team is a dedicated group of scientists and engineers with diverse backgrounds, which is what we will need to get the most science out of the data that we eagerly await. See the team in the picture at right.
A lot of people — including my own family and friends — are wondering why NASA is returning to the Moon. They ask, "Haven't we already learned everything we need to know about the Moon from the Apollo missions?" They want to know, "Why are we going?" These are legitimate questions: After all, space missions are expensive, and taxpayers have a right to know how these missions benefit them — and humankind.
The first question is one that we as scientists can very clearly answer "No." Thanks to Apollo, we have greatly increased our understanding of the origin, evolution, and current state of the Moon. However, Apollo's six landed missions sampled only a very small portion of the Moon. Recent data indicate the lunar regolith (that's the blanket of loose minerals, rocks and other materials on the surface, much of it produced by impacts) may vary greatly across different regions of the Moon. For comparison, imagine trying to fathom Earth by visiting only six places — it would be difficult, to say the least. Also, we need to address the distribution and abundance of potential water-ice deposits near the lunar poles. If these resources exist, they will be invaluable for future human missions. These are but a couple of the numerous scientific questions that LRO will help to answer about the Moon.
The second question extends beyond science. It's about humanity's innate desire to explore, to know more about who we are, where we came from, and who, if anyone, is out there with us. The Moon is our nearest celestial neighbor, and we still have a lot to learn from space exploration. If we can better understand the Moon, which records much of the history of the early solar system in its ancient crust, we can learn more about other planets in the solar system, including our own. That's always a good idea!
After our meetings today, we have press conferences to attend with "friends and family of LRO." It's always great to see the excitement in children as they hear about the rocket launches and to meet the families of colleagues. My wife, Samantha, and my parents, Elaine and Bruce, were kind enough to join me in Florida this week to share in the excitement of the LRO launch. I'll report back tomorrow with launch details if everything goes well. Keep your fingers crossed for clear skies!Related: