Back منقب قمري Arabic Лунар Проспектър Bulgarian Lunar Prospector Catalan Lunar Prospector Czech Lunar Prospector German Lunar Prospector Spanish Lunar Prospector Finnish Lunar Prospector French Lunar Prospector Galician לונר פרוספקטור HE
 Lunar Prospector | |
| Mission type | Lunar orbiter |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| COSPAR ID | 1998-001A |
| SATCAT no. | 25131 |
| Mission duration | 570 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Bus | LM-100 |
| Manufacturer | Lockheed Martin |
| Launch mass | 296.4 kilograms (653 lb)[1] |
| Dry mass | 126 kilograms (278 lb) |
| Power | 202.0 W |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | January 7, 1998, 02:28:44 UTC[1] |
| Rocket | Athena II |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral SLC-46 |
| Contractor | Lockheed Martin Space Systems |
| End of mission | |
| Disposal | Deorbited (Moon impact) |
| Decay date | July 31, 1999, 09:52:02 UTC |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Selenocentric |
| Eccentricity | 0.00046 |
| Periselene altitude | 99.45 kilometers (61.80 mi) |
| Aposelene altitude | 101.2 kilometers (62.9 mi) |
| Inclination | 90.55 degrees |
| Period | 117.9 minutes |
| Epoch | January 16, 1998[1] |
| Lunar orbiter | |
| Orbital insertion | January 11, 1998, 10:28 UTC |
| Impact site | 87°42′S 42°06′E / 87.7°S 42.1°E |
| Orbits | ~7060 |
| Instruments | |
| Gamma ray spectrometer (GRS) Lunar Prospector neutron spectrometer (NS) Alpha particle spectrometer (APS) Doppler gravity experiment (DGE) Magnetometer (MAG) Electron reflectometer (ER) | |
 Official insignia of the Lunar Prospector mission | |
Lunar Prospector was a spacecraft that orbited the Moon for 19 months in 1998-99. From a low polar orbit, it mapped surface composition including lunar hydrogen deposits, measured magnetic and gravity fields, and studied lunar outgassing events. The mission ended July 31, 1999, when the orbiter was deliberately crashed into a crater near the lunar south pole.
Data from the mission provided detailed mapping of the surface composition of the Moon, and helped to improve understanding of the origin, evolution, current state, and resources of the Moon. The mission identified the presence of hydrogen, implying deposits of ice on the Moon.[2][3] Several articles on the scientific results were published in the journal Science.[4][5]
Lunar Prospector was the third mission selected by NASA for full development and construction as part of the Discovery Program.[6] It was managed by NASA Ames Research Center with the prime contractor being Lockheed Martin; it cost $62.8 million. The Principal Investigator for the mission was Alan Binder. His personal account of the mission, Lunar Prospector: Against all Odds, is highly critical of the bureaucracy of NASA overall, and of its contractors.[7]
- ^ a b c "Lunar Prospector". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Archived from the original on 2019-01-15. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
- ^ "Eureka! Ice Found At Lunar Poles". NASA. Archived from the original on 2020-08-03. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
- ^ "Ice on the Moon". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 2019-10-24. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
- ^ A. S. Konopliv; A. B. Binder; L. L. Hood; A. B. Kucinskas; W. L. Sjogren; J. G. Williams (1998). "Improved Gravity Field of the Moon from Lunar Prospector". Science. 281 (5382): 1476–80. Bibcode:1998Sci...281.1476K. doi:10.1126/science.281.5382.1476. PMID 9727968.
- ^ Binder, Alan B. (1998-09-04). "Lunar Prospector: Overview". Science. 281 (5382): 1475–1476. Bibcode:1998Sci...281.1475B. doi:10.1126/science.281.5382.1475. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 9727967.
- ^ "NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 2019-08-12. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
- ^ Binder, Alan B. (2005). Lunar Prospector: Against all Odds. Tucson: Ken Press. p. 1181. ISBN 978-1-928771-31-9. OCLC 61137782.