NASA's two new lunar probes -- Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), lifted off Thursday on a landmark mission to scout water sources and landing sites in anticipation of leading astronauts back to the moon in 2020.
The two probes, a powerful lunar orbiter and a smaller spacecraft that will hunt for water ice by crashing into the moon, were launched on an Atlas V rocket at about 5:32 p.m. EDT (2132 GMT) from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
LRO is a robotic mission aimed at creating a comprehensive atlas of the moon's features, finding possible landing sites, identifying available resources, characterizing the radiation environment and testing new technology.
LCROSS will search for water ice on the moon by sending the spent upper-stage Centaur rocket to impact part of a polar crater in permanent shadows. It will fly into the plume of dust left by the impact and measure the properties before also colliding with the lunar surface.
The launch of the dual probes occurred one month shy of the 40th anniversary of the first lunar footprints.
The 583-million-dollar mission has been delayed since October 2008 and was slated to launch on Wednesday. But NASA opted to delay the flight by one more day to allow the space shuttle Endeavour to try and launch after a hydrogen gas leak thwarted its initial attempt. The leak reappeared and the shuttle remains on Earth at the nearby Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Source:Xinhua
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