Utilizing NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter: A Crucial Element for Artemis Moon Missions

In anticipation of NASA’s forthcoming Artemis II mission scheduled for 2024, astronauts have undergone extensive training that relies heavily on data provided by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Launched fourteen years ago, the LRO was conceived with the purpose of supporting crewed space travel and has since evolved into an indispensable tool for equipping astronauts with the ability to identify lunar landmarks and geological formations. Its exhaustive mapping efforts exceed those conducted on any other celestial body, thereby aiding in the identification of potential sites for safe lunar landings.

In preparation for the Artemis II mission set for 2024, astronauts are receiving comprehensive training grounded in the wealth of data garnered from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, ensuring their thorough familiarity with lunar exploration.

When astronauts embark on their journey around the Moon in 2024 as part of NASA’s Artemis II mission, they will be armed with a wealth of knowledge about lunar landmarks, amassed through one of the Agency’s premier robotic missions to our closest cosmic companion. Launched in 2009, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has amassed a trove of scientific data during its fourteen years of operation, but its significance transcends this capacity. With “reconnaissance” encapsulated within its nomenclature, it’s unsurprising that the mission’s inception was rooted in the intention to facilitate crewed space endeavors.

An image portraying an artist’s rendition of an Artemis astronaut descending from a Moon lander to the lunar surface. Credit: NASA

Training Astronauts Utilizing LRO Data

As astronauts brace themselves for their return to the Moon, marking the first such mission since 1972, their training has been enriched by their proficiency in recognizing landmarks, deciphering geological attributes, and aiding in pinpointing areas of interest for prospective landings. This training is reliant on the scientific visualization of data amassed by the LRO, which effectively highlights the features observable from lunar orbit.

According to Kelsey Young of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, this facet was meticulously woven into the LRO mission’s framework right from its inception. Young, the Science Flight Operations lead for the forthcoming Artemis missions, remarks, “The mission’s initiation was driven not only by the objectives of the science mission directorate but also those of the human spaceflight program. The instruments were chosen not solely for scientific purposes, but also for exploration.”

An image of the lunar south pole generated using data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument. This instrument measures landing site slopes, lunar surface roughness, and is instrumental in creating a high-resolution 3D map of the Moon. Credit: NASA/Scientific Visualization Studio

LRO’s Profound Role in Lunar Exploration

To this end, the quartet of astronauts selected for the upcoming lunar mission underwent a week-long classroom curriculum. This course was devised to equip them with the skills to recognize lunar landmarks from their vantage point in orbit. The course incorporated data sourced from the LRO, serving as a visual aid to amplify the lessons imparted to the astronauts. As the pinnacle of their training, the astronauts were tasked with identifying potential landing zones from an array of orbital images.

This type of training is pivotal not just for Artemis II, but for all forthcoming lunar expeditions as part of the Artemis initiative. Ernie Wright of Goddard’s Scientific Visualization Studio underscores that the LRO has provided us with the most comprehensive global mapping of any planetary body within the Solar System. This encompasses our own planet Earth, where ocean expanses and polar ice prevent analogous high-resolution mapping of the rocky terrain beneath.

Artist’s rendition of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Human Cognition Versus Robotic Data

Jacob Richardson, a research scientist on Goddard’s planetary science team, who was intricately involved in the training program for Artemis II astronauts, highlights the unparalleled capacity of human senses and cognition to discern and infer, even surpassing the capabilities of the most advanced robotic probes.

Richardson reflects on the curriculum crafted for Artemis II astronauts, noting that scarcely an hour elapsed without the utilization of LRO data and imagery. “We showcased instances of scientifically intriguing features that they’ll encounter from orbit,” he asserts. This strategic approach ensures that when the astronauts venture past the Moon next year, they will possess a comprehensive understanding of what to anticipate, the spatial relationships between these features, and the skill to identify points of interest for future lunar landings.

He accentuates how, even during the later Apollo missions, our comprehension of lunar surface characteristics remained circumscribed by the technological resources available at the time. “When we embarked on the Apollo missions to the Moon, we achieved remarkable success, especially given the nascent era of space exploration,” he reflects. “However, our insights into the actual appearance of the lunar surface were limited. Even for Apollo 16, our assumption that they were descending onto lava flows was eventually proven incorrect.”

With over fourteen years of imagery and data amassed by the LRO, astronauts poised to return to the Moon are eminently prepared for a fruitful mission marked by exploration and discovery, embodying NASA’s enduring mission to investigate our nearest celestial neighbor, the Moon.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

More about Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

• NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
• Artemis II Mission Overview
• Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Data
• Artemis Program
• NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center