Updates LRO/LCROSS News and Updates

[Orbinaut Pete]

LCROSS web streaming topped 391,000 viewers, making it among the top 10 live Internet events in history!

LCROSS was the 3rd most popular live NASA event on the web, falling just behind the STS-114 (Return to Flight) launch and landing.

The total viewers probably exceeded 391,000, as some PC's will have been viewed by more than 1 person.
Also, that figure does not take into account the non-NASA streams, such as Spaceflightnow.com & the Mauna Kea webcast.
Not to mention all the people viewing the stream in the LCROSS MCC.
Considering this, the number is likely at least half a million, possibly more.

And so I think huge congratulations are in order for BrianJ – his 3D models are now famous, and take their own place in NASA history!

Congratulations, BrianJ!

 

[agentgonzo]

The total viewers probably exceeded 391,000, as some PC's will have been viewed by more than 1 person.

My PC was being watched by me and four others. It was also acting as a relay stream to about another 3 or 4 PCs in our office (as I'm the only one technically adept to bypass the firewall).

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

First ejecta plume observation reports starting to come in - doesn't sound good.

Astronomers at Palomar Observatory outside of San Diego report they saw no evidence of an impact plume through the 200-inch Hale Telescope. Outfitted with adaptive optics, the telescope has a resolution of about 180 meters per pixel, according to Scott Kardel, the observatory's public information coordinator.

The Keck Observatory in Hawaii reports astronomers observed Cabeus crater at the time of impact to search for the ejecta plume thrown up by the Centaur's collision.

A Keck spokesperson would not comment on if any ejecta was actually observed, referring to the upcoming press conference in one hour.

The Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico coordinated three telescopes looking at the moon during this morning's impact, but none of the instruments detected any visual sign of lunar ejecta in a first look at data.

"We didn't see anything in a quick glance at the images, but it's going to take a while to know for sure if we saw anything," said Nancy Chanover, assistant professor of astronomy at New Mexico State University.

Apache Point's 11.5-foot telescope was collecting visual frames and a 3.3-foot telescope took video at the time of impact, Chanover said.

Source: www.spaceflightnow.com/lcross/status.html

---------- Post added at 14:38 ---------- Previous post was at 14:33 ----------

Some impact images are now up in the LCROSS Public Observation Gallery: http://apps.nasa.gov/lcross/observations/

 

[flying coffin]

NASA has also been using Brianj's LRO model.

 

[Urwumpe]

NASA has also been using Brianj's LRO model.

I wouldn't bet on that. It is just hard to make meshes of the same real spacecraft look completely different.

 

[flying coffin]

Maybe you wouldn't bet on it, but I would. The LROC team at ASU is definitely using BrianJ's LRO model, and are very pleased with it.

 

[Urwumpe]

Maybe you wouldn't bet on it, but I would. The LROC team at ASU is definitely using BrianJ's LRO model, and are very pleased with it.

Any evidence for that? Their LROC homepage does not have much which NASA didn't have on their LRO homepage.

(Not that I couldn't believe in the models being used, but rather that I fail to see any evidence that this happened)

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

BrianJ: Your LCROSS model was just shown on the BBC 6 o'clock News! :speakcool:

 

[flying coffin]

Any evidence for that? Their LROC homepage does not have much which NASA didn't have on their LRO homepage.

(Not that I couldn't believe in the models being used, but rather that I fail to see any evidence that this happened)

I designed the storage system that is storing the LROC data at ASU.
When I showed them BrianJ's add-on (in the beta stages) They requested
the model converted for use in Celestia. Brian agreed, and sent it to me and I gave it to them, and have seen them using it. They are not using it on NTV,
AFAIK, but they are using it internally. BrianJ can confirm.

-Chris

 

[jedimaster1214]

Why didn't they do this with the spent S-IVB in the Apollo program?
I mean impact the moon, and test the contents of the ejecta.

 

[tblaxland]

Why didn't they do this with the spent S-IVB in the Apollo program?
I mean impact the moon, and test the contents of the ejecta.

To do so you need:
1. High angle of incidence to maximise the height of the ejecta cloud; and
2. Impact near the limb to maximise your chances of being able to observe the cloud; and
3. Impact near the terminator, for the same reason as #2.

Due to the trajectory required by the Apollo CSM, the trajectory of the S-IVB would allow any of the above to achieved singularly or in the following combinations:
a. 1 & 3.
b. 2 & 3.

Also, the targeting of the S-IVB's would not have been sufficiently accurate and they would not have added the extra mass for a "shepherd" spacecraft. The primary mission was too important and too tight on mass budget (consider: what would you do? Add a Lunar Rover or a "shepherd" spacecraft to the S-IVB?). LCROSS is a little different in that LRO was not usng all the available launch mass of the Atlas V 401 so proposals for a mission of opportunity were sort to use the remaining available mass.

In any case, the S-IVB impacts did not go without use. The seismometers placed on the surface by earlier missions were used to reveal clues as to the internal structure of the Moon.

 

[jedimaster1214]

To do so you need:
1. High angle of incidence to maximise the height of the ejecta cloud; and
2. Impact near the limb to maximise your chances of being able to observe the cloud; and
3. Impact near the terminator, for the same reason as #2.

Due to the trajectory required by the Apollo CSM, the trajectory of the S-IVB would allow any of the above to achieved singularly or in the following combinations:
a. 1 & 3.
b. 2 & 3.

Also, the targeting of the S-IVB's would not have been sufficiently accurate and they would not have added the extra mass for a "shepherd" spacecraft. The primary mission was too important and too tight on mass budget (consider: what would you do? Add a Lunar Rover or a "shepherd" spacecraft to the S-IVB?). LCROSS is a little different in that LRO was not usng all the available launch mass of the Atlas V 401 so proposals for a mission of opportunity were sort to use the remaining available mass.

In any case, the S-IVB impacts did not go without use. The seismometers placed on the surface by earlier missions were used to reveal clues as to the internal structure of the Moon.

I completely understand what you're saying, but just have the CSM at the right place, and the right time to take pictures. It would be a challenging thing to do, but possible....

 

[BrianJ]

BrianJ: Your LCROSS model was just shown on the BBC 6 o'clock News! :speakcool:

Where's my royalty cheque?

I designed the storage system that is storing the LROC data at ASU.
When I showed them BrianJ's add-on (in the beta stages) They requested
the model converted for use in Celestia. Brian agreed, and sent it to me and I gave it to them, and have seen them using it. They are not using it on NTV,
AFAIK, but they are using it internally. BrianJ can confirm.

-Chris

Haven't heard anything back from the LROC guys since I sent the model, so I'm not sure. However, the LCROSS model is definitely the one I spent several days converting to STK .mdl format at the request of Mr.Shirley at ARC.

Can't wait for December to see what the science data shows!

Cheers,
Brian

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Where's my royalty cheque?

You should call the Beeb & ask them! Maybe they will let you off about next year’s TV Licence payment!

-----

The best ground-based video showing how no plume was visible when LCROSS impacted:

 

[BrianJ]

That's a remarkable video of an ejecta plume not happening.

Here's a little bit of news from LRO though......

Friday, October 9, 2009
LRO Observes LCROSS Impact!

LRO Status
LRO continues to operate as planned in the 50 km nominal mission orbit post MOI with no significant open issues or problems.
In addition this week LRO operations were focused on supporting the LCROSS lunar impact today. Earlier in the week LRO adjusted its orbit to prepare to observe the impact ejecta plume. The necessary maneuvers were practiced throughout the week and LRO successfully observed the impact plume after the LCROSS impact. LRO was rolled 81 degrees to view the plume at LRO’s closest approach (76.5 km to impact site). The LAMP instrument (UV spectrometer) has already confirmed detection of the ejecta plume and has begun analyzing the their data. The Diviner instrument (Imaging Radiometer) has confirmed they have detected the LCROSS impact crater.
Congratulations to our sister mission!!

 

[SiberianTiger]

Maybe they've got the plume not as big as they'd expected? What if the Centaur ditched into a kind of a deep trench with steep walls? Hopefully, they'll release some info on the terrain where the impact crater is.

 

[Zatnikitelman]

Or more of the energy went into ripping apart the gallant Centaur than tossing dust into space.

 

[Urwumpe]

Or the crater was hard as a rock.

 

[Donamy]

How high did the exhaust plume rise for lunar landings ?

 

[Urwumpe]

How high did the exhaust plume rise for lunar landings ?

Was on the scale of about 30m.