American Moon Probe On Deck; LRO To Help Answer Question Of Water On Moon

Following the successful launch of India's first Moon mission Chandraaan-1, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) moves into the spotlight, expected to launch NET Apr 24. The spacecraft is currently undergoing 5 weeks of environmental testing at NASA Goddard in a thermal vacuum simulating the space environment that it will encounter when it orbits the Moon. Its payload consists of 6 instruments and 1 technology demonstrator that will provide data critical to enabling a human return to the Moon. One major question that the LRO intends to resolve is the supposed presence of water ice in the Permanently Shaded Regions (PSR) of the lunar poles. Kaguya, Japan's probe in lunar orbit since Sep 2007, recently sent back data that did not show any evidence of ice in PSRs. LRO will be able to verify if water or hydrogen deposits exist on the Moon using several independent techniques. The ice detecting technology demonstrator aboard LRO is a radio transmitter and receiver called Mini-RF, similar to the Mini-SAR currently bound for the Moon aboard Chandrayaan-1. Both instruments were developed by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. The Universities Space Research Association and NASA are currently reviewing proposals for participation in the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Observation Campaign. LCROSS will travel to the Moon as a secondary payload aboard the LRO launch vehicle, and will excavate the floor of one of the polar craters with 2 impactors seeking evidence of ice. (Credit: NASA)

The '2008 International SpaceWire Conference' takes place on Nov 4-6 in Nara, Japan. The meeting brings together product designers, hardware and software engineers, system developers and mission specialists to discuss technologies and applications of SpaceWire – a leading data-handling network for use onboard spacecraft. Created by the European Space Agency, SpaceWire systems are being widely used by USA, Japan and Russia space agencies on spacecraft missions. SpaceWire networks use high-speed (2 Mbits/sec to 200 Mbits/sec), bi-directional, full-duplex components that are simple to implement and use, including sensors, processing units, memory and downlink telemetry subsystems. SpaceWire systems promote low-cost integration and increased compatibility between data-handling systems, leading to faster, cheaper, and more reliable systems. The conference is targeted at both academics and industrialists, and will examine all aspects of SpaceWire systems, including components, applications, new technologies, equipment and software, and protocols. The '1st International SpaceWire Conference' was held on Sep 17-19 in Dundee, Scotland, and featured more than 100 global SpaceWire leaders. Among this year's sponsors are ESA, NASA, JAXA, Roscosmos and the University of Osaka. (Credit: ESA)