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Hi, I'm Leigh and
this is NASA Now.
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
What is it?
What's it doing?
And what can it tell
us about the moon?
And a stunning discovery
found on the moon
that could fuel rocket engines.
That's ahead, but
first let's find
out what else is
happening at NASA now.
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You might want to bring
a filter if you plan
on drinking water from the moon.
Water ice recently discovered
in dust at the bottom
of a crater near the moon's
south pole has Mercury,
Magnesium, Calcium, even
a bit of Silver in it.
The discovery of water ice
was surprising for scientists
who had previously thought
the lunar surface was barren
and dry.
The discovery was made by
the Lunar Crater Observation
and Sensing Satellite,
called LCROSS,
a companion to NASA's Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Now let's take a
look at the past.
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The Apollo 17 mission was the
last manned mission to the moon.
It landed on the moon
on December 11, 1972.
The Apollo 17 astronauts
explored the moon using the
Lunar Rover.
They collected rock
and soil samples
and set up experiments there.
The Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter, LRO,
is currently collecting detailed
information about the moon
and its topography and
here to tell us more
about it is Chief Scientist
at NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center, Dr. James Garvin.
I'm Jim Garvin.
I'm the Chief Scientist at the
Goddard Space Flight Center
and I also work as the Associate
Science Project Scientist
for the Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter Mission,
which we call LRO.
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LRO is a very low altitude
robot spacecraft bristling
with instruments that
can measure the shape
of the land on the moon.
It can see what's in the
ground search for things
that we might call
resources that you could use
if you were on the moon.
We also have cameras that
can see things the size
of a beach ball on the surface.
It's as if we are there.
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People often ask,
so why would we want
to go to this other world?
No air, not a lot of water
and trees everything we like.
The reason is it's a
window into our own past.
The moon is like a time capsule
that preserves what was
happening throughout the solar
system, particularly around
the Earth, a long time ago
and those records have been
totally wiped clean here
on Earth.
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We've learned, through
LRO and other mechanisms,
that the moon does
contain resources
that could be invaluable as we
learn to live and work in space.
One could be small amounts
of water frozen as ice
in the lunar soils which is
as fine as talcum powder.
We can convert it to
things that we need
to live and work in space.
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Water is made of Hydrogen and
Oxygen a magical molecule.
We need it to live and
even as ice we can use it.
We can convert it
from ice into gas.
We can convert it into liquid.
We can separate the
Hydrogen from the Oxygen.
Rockets run on those
simple elements.
We can actually produce
rocket fuel.
We can produce Oxygen that
we would need to breathe.
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LRO has nine experiments
that allow us
to build pieces of maps.
It's kind of like a mosaic, kind
of cool, but the most critical
to form the base map
which we lay everything
on is an instrument
known as LOLA.
It measures the relief of the
ground, what's up and down,
in 3-D in very fine scales.
If you want to go to the moon
land your spacecraft there
and there's no parking
lots, landing strips,
highways you've got to
know where it's safe.
This is what happened
on Apollo 11
when Neil Armstrong was flying
the Eagle in and he looked down
and said it looks too
rough for me to land.
So, he flew several
hundred meters further
down range before he landed.
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Mapping is something
we take for granted.
We drive our cars, GPS
tells us where we are going.
Maps are important and they
are mathematical entity.
Math is fun because it allows
us to make maps that we can use
as people and do cool things.
So, math underlies
everything we do as we start
to investigate the
moon with LRO.
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So why do we want
to map the moon?
To get to know it, so we can
design spacecraft, for people
and machines to go there.
When we went to the moon
back in the late 60's
and early 70's we went to six
spots, worked hard for a couple
of days, mapped enough to know
where to go and we left it.
We brought back samples
and did great stuff.
There's a lot of the moon that's
different left to explore.
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Did you know our first mapping
of the moon began back in 1966?
NASA's Lunar Orbiter Program
included five unmanned missions
that mapped 99 percent of
the moon using photography.
Now you know.
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Now it's your turn to collect
information about craters
on the moon so you can help
find a safe landing zone
for NASA's next moon mission.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
is gathering data on craters.
Scientists believe that
many of the craters
on the moon were formed by
the impact of meteorites.
The size and appearance of a
crater depend on two things,
the size of the meteorite
and its speed at impact.
Now you can try and predict
the effect of an object
on the formation and
appearance of a crater.
Go to the Virtual Campus at
www.explorerschools.nasa.gov
for detailed instructions.
Well that's it for NASA Now,
be sure to tune in next week
when we learn about the
special role NASA has
in improving our air
traffic control systems.
We'll see you then on NASA Now.
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NASA Now comes to you
from the Virtual Campus
at NASA Explorer Schools.
