Lunar Prospector
Lunar Prospector was the third mission selected by NASA for full development and construction as part of the Discovery Program. At a cost of $62.8 million, the 19-month mission was designed for a low polar orbit investigation of the Moon, including mapping of surface composition including lunar hydrogen deposits, measurements of magnetic and gravity fields, and study of lunar outgassing events. The mission ended July 31, 1999, when the orbiter was deliberately crashed into a crater near the lunar south pole, after the presence of hydrogen was successfully detected.
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) |
| Dry mass | 126 kilograms (278 lb) |
| Power | 202.0 W |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | January 7, 1998, 02:28:44 UTC |
| Rocket | Athena II |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral SLC-46 |
| Contractor | Lockheed Martin Space Systems |
| End of mission | |
| 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 |
| Lunar orbiter | |
| Orbital insertion | January 11, 1998, 10:28 UTC |
| Impact site | 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 | |
Data from the mission allowed the construction of a detailed map of the surface composition of the Moon, and helped to improve understanding of the origin, evolution, current state, and resources of the Moon. Several articles on the scientific results were published in the journal Science.
Lunar Prospector was managed by NASA Ames Research Center with the prime contractor Lockheed Martin. 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.
In 2013 an unidentified object was discovered in an unstable orbit around the Earth, and assigned the provisional number WT1190F. After it crashed into the Indian Ocean it was identified as probably the translunar injector of Lunar Prospector.