- MoonRise
-
Moonrise Operator NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mission type Lander Lunar Science Lunar Sample Return Satellite of Moon Launch date October 2016 Carrier rocket Atlas V-531 Launch site Cape Canaveral Homepage JPL Moon landing Date March 2017 Coordinates South Pole–Aitkin Basin The MoonRise mission focuses on the giant South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on the far side of the moon between the Moon's South Pole and Aitken Crater, 16° south of the Moon's equator. This basin measures nearly 2,500 kilometres (1,600 mi) in diameter and 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) in depth. This region is the oldest, deepest, observable impact basin on the Moon and provides a window into the deep crust of the moon and it's past history as a result. The basin is also among the largest recognized impact structures in the Solar System. [1] The mission would be NASA's first unmanned sample return mission.[2]
Moonrise was not selected for the next New Frontiers program launch[3][4], losing out to OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission.
References
- ^ "MoonRise fact sheet". NASA. http://moonrise.jpl.nasa.gov/documents/MoonRiseFactSheetfinal.pdf.
- ^ "WUSTL-led Moon mission is finalist for NASA's next big space venture". Washington University in St Louis. http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/15260.aspx.
- ^ "NASA selects New Frontiers finalists". http://www.spacetoday.net/Summary/4822.
- ^ "NASA selects asteroid sample return mission". http://www.spacetoday.net/Summary/5292.
External links
Categories:- NASA
- Sample return missions
- Lunar science
- New Frontiers
- NASA probes
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