SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
Lift Off for NASA's Lunar Probes
from BBC News Online
Nasa has successfully launched two
spacecraft to the Moon on missions that will
pave the way for a return to the lunar surface
by US astronauts. LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter) and a crater observation mission
blasted off from Florida on an Atlas V rocket.
Data gathered by LRO will help mission
planners select future landing sites and scout
locations for lunar outposts. The second
mission will send a rocket crashing into the
Moon to scour the debris plume for evidence of
water ice.
... LRO will enter a low polar orbit around
the Moon at an altitude of around 31 miles -
the closest any spacecraft has continually
orbited Earth's natural satellite.
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