On June 18, 2009, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket took off from Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, carrying with it the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The LRO’s initial goal was simple exploration of the moon, though after one year it switched to a science phase under the Science Mission Directorate of NASA. On the orbiter are a variety of instruments designed to help NASA better understand the Earth’s moon, including tools for creating day-night temperature maps, detecting UV radiation, and creating high resolution color images of its surface. Although the LRO is capable of collecting a wide range of data about our satellite, there’s an emphasis on learning more about the moon’s polar regions, where constant exposure to sunlight is possible and a chance exists for liquid water to be found in the permanently shadowed regions.

It is hoped that exploration data from the LRO can be used to find better landing sites, paving the way for the return of manned trips to the moon and, ultimately, lunar outposts. As such, the LRO marks the first effort to create a complete map of all of the moon’s resources and geography. Because an outpost would also imply humans spending prolonged periods of time on the surface of the moon, the LRO is being used to identify resources on the moon and determine how the moon’s radiation-filled environment will affect us.

Here’s a brief breakdown of the seven devices that the LRO has been equipped with:

Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER): CRaTER’s purpose is to detect radiation in the space around the moon where the shielding effects of the Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field are gone. It also has a scanner that is covered by a special plastic that reacts to radiation in the same way that human muscle tissue does, allowing researchers to observe the effects of deep space radiation on susceptible bone marrow. Recent results from CRaTER indicate that while high-energy cosmic rays from deep space known as HZE particles make up only about 1% of the radiation in the lunar environment, they carry about 50% of the total energy from radiation. Below is a picture of the CRaTER flight model before being attached to the LRO.

Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment (DLRE): The DLRE is responsible for creating thermal maps, measuring and mapping the temperatures of both the moon’s surface and subsurface from LRO’s orbit. This data can be used to spot hazardous cold spots as well as deposits of ice on the moon. Researchers are also able to use these maps to find rocks and other rough terrains on the surface to help avoid dangerous landing zones. Below are graphics showing the first set of comprehensive day- and night-time thermal maps of the lunar surface.

Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP): The LAMP instrument is used to create maps of the lunar surface using ultraviolet light. Creating maps using UV light will help to point out ice pockets in the darkest areas of the moon—craters near the poles where sunlight never reaches. Setting up a lunar base near these pockets would obviously be ideal as it increases the availability of liquid water for human occupants. LAMP will also help detect other minerals on the moon as well as study the composition of the moon’s almost nonexistent atmosphere. The image below, showing LAMP data from the south pole, suggests the possibility of miniscule amounts of ice in a shadowed crater on the moon’s surface. The top inset shows the pole using a far-ultraviolet wavelength that is absorbed by ice; the darkened craters then hint at the presence of frozen water. In the bottom inset, a longer wavelength of far-ultraviolet light is used, which frost reflects. The reddening in the image (which shows up in green) is also consistent with the presence of ice. Researchers say that these results indicate that permanently shadowed regions on the moon could contain as much as 2% frozen water, a surprising result considering that it was previously believed that interplanetary Lyman-Alpha radiation would destroy any ice before it could accumulate on a surface.

Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND): LEND is designed to create maps of the hydrogen distribution across the lunar surface as well as helping to measure the lunar radiation environment. LEND is another way of searching for water ice on the lunar surface. It accomplishes both of these goals by measuring the velocities of neutrons that are released from molecules and atoms on the lunar surface when they are bombarded by high-energy cosmic rays. Since the neutrons can be slowed down and sometimes absorbed by other elements in the lunar soil, the velocities of these particles can be used to get an idea of the atomic composition of the moon’s surface. Ideally, LEND researchers hope to see an increase in hydrogen concentration in the previously mentioned lunar craters, possibly hinting at the presence of water ice. Results from LEND, below, show the overall levels of neutron emission at the lunar surface. Dark blue regions depict neutron suppressed regions (NSRs), which are the result of increased levels of hydrogen in those areas. Elevated hydrogen could correlate with the presence of water in one form or another.

Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA): LOLA’s goal is to provide the most comprehensive topographical map of the moon by measuring things like surface roughness and potential landing area slopes in order to create a detailed 3-D map of the moon. LOLA operates by firing laser light at the lunar surface and measuring the time it takes for them to return to determine elevation as well as how much weaker the returning light is in order to calculate how much of it was diffused by rough terrain. LOLA’s surface elevation data can also be used to identify the areas of the moon that will be permanently illuminated or darkened. The map below, one of the first comprehensive maps of the moon’s surface contours, shows just how rough and jagged the surface can be. The dark blue areas represent lower elevations while the red and purple areas are higher.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC): Perhaps the simplest tool on the LRO, LROC’s job is to capture high resolution black and white photos of the lunar surface, with a resolution down to 1 meter.. It also captures color images in the visible and ultraviolet light spectrums. LROC will help to judge the degree to which the lunar poles are illuminated as well as helping to identify ideal landing sites. LROC’s data will also be overlapped with panoramic images from the Apollo era, identifying small impacts that have occurred since the early 1970s. Click the link below to go to an image of the Apollo 12 landing site photographed by LROC (slightly high resolution, slower connections beware).

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/584398main_M168353795RE_25cm_AP12_area.jpg

Mini-RF Technology Demonstration: The Mini-RF, which stands for miniature radio frequency, uses radar technology to map out the polar regions of the moon by imaging strips of the surface as it passes over. Mini-RF collects image strips 5 miles wide by 290 miles long and combines them into mosaics of the moon’s polar regions (see below). The Mini-RF device on the LRO works in conjunction with a similar device on India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter to identify and focus on areas that are deemed potentially significant to the quest to uncover the secrets of permanently shadowed areas of the poles.

The LRO is set to continue collecting scientific data about the moon until 2015. With the promising results already obtained, we can eagerly expect the orbiter to continue uncovering new and exciting things about our familiar night light.

Learn more about the LRO and its instruments on NASA’s site (follow the links to each instrument’s official site for more detailed information): http://lro.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacecraft.html