Feb. 17, 2009

Grey Hautaluoma
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0668
grey.hautaluoma-1{at}nasa.gov

Jonas Dino
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-604-5612
jonas.dino{at}nasa.gov

Sally Koris
Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, Calif.
310-812-4721
sally.koris{at}ngc.com
RELEASE: 09-032

NASA MISSION TO SEEK WATER ICE ON MOON HEADS TO FLORIDA FOR LAUNCH

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing
Satellite, known as LCROSS, is enroute from Northrop Grumman's
facility in Redondo Beach, Calif., to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in
Florida in preparation for a spring launch.

The satellite's primary mission is to search for water ice on the
moon
in a permanently shadowed crater near one of the lunar poles. LCROSS
is a low-cost, accelerated-development, companion mission to NASA's
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO. At Kennedy, the two spacecraft
will be integrated with an Atlas V launch vehicle and tested for
final flight worthiness. LCROSS and LRO are the first missions in
NASA's plan to return humans to the moon and begin establishing a
lunar outpost by 2020.

After launch, the LCROSS spacecraft and the Atlas V's Centaur upper
stage rocket will fly by the moon and enter into an elongated orbit
to position the satellite for impact. On final approach, the
spacecraft and Centaur will separate. The Centaur will strike the
chosen lunar crater, creating a debris plume that will rise above the
surface. Four minutes later, LCROSS will fly through the debris
plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before striking the
moon's surface and creating a second debris plume. Scientists will
use data from the debris clouds to determine the presence or absence
of water ice.

"The LCROSS project has had to work within very challenging cost-cap
and schedule-cap constraints," said Dan Andrews, LCROSS project
manager at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "The
shipping of our spacecraft is a testament to our balanced approach
and the great people working on this project."

To remain within budget and a short schedule of 26 months, the LCROSS
project team developed a simple yet innovative spacecraft that uses
existing NASA systems, commercial-off-the-shelf components modified
to survive the harsh conditions of space, and the spacecraft design
and development expertise of integration partner Northrop Grumman
Space Technologies.

"LCROSS delivers a high science value per dollar," said Steve Hixson,
vice president for advanced concepts at Northrop Grumman Aerospace
Systems in Redondo Beach. "With its versatile, fast and cost
efficient architecture, the LCROSS spacecraft serves as a pathfinder
for future low-cost Earth and space science missions."

Ames manages the LCROSS mission and will conduct mission and science
operations. Northrop Grumman designed, built, integrated and tested
the spacecraft. The LCROSS and LRO missions are components of the
Lunar Precursor Robotic Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Ala. The program manages pathfinding robotic
missions to the moon for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate
at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

For more information about the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing
Satellite, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/lcross

For more information about the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/lro

For more information about Northrop Grumman Corporation, visit:

http://www.northropgrumman.com

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