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LCROSS

“No, we’re not going to break the moon. But we’re gonna put a dent in it.”

It’s Thursday, June 18th, 2009 and LCROSS is patiently waiting atop an Atlas V-Centaur at Cape Canaveral Florida. Patience is the word of the day. 2700 miles away at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach California, James Wehner, the LCROSS Deputy Program Manager, is taking questions from a roomful of engineers and their families.

LCROSS, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, was a dual build between Northrop Grumman and the NASA Ames Research Center. What was described as a “fast-track, low-cost” project, LCROSS is billed as an overwhelmingly successful display of system engineering. A piggy-back to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), LCROSS was quickly designed and built by Northrop Grumman to fill excess space on NASA’s launch vehicle. Using many recylced and off-the-shelf parts, LCROSS was delivered early this year — on-time and under budget.

The mission is to investigate the presence of ice on the moon. After a 4-month trek, LCROSS will impact the moon at 7 times the speed of a bullet on a to-be-determined crater. The resulting 60 to 80 kilometer high plume, which will be visible from Earth, will immediately be analysized for the presence of water, hydrocarbons and hydrated materials

It’s now T-minus 20 minutes to launch. As NASA-TV silently broadcasts live footage of the launch site, Northrop Grumman employees slowly file into the cafeteria. The mood is mixed. The visibly nervous engineers patiently wait with their families. LCROSS has already been delayed a day, and weather is still threatening to push back the launch further. Impatiently waiting are the many children running around the room.

Northrop Grumman and NASA know the educational opportunities of this launch, and have generously invitied the engineers’ families to attend the launch party. NASA Ames, farming the next generation of engineers and scientists, have joined the Apple Valley School System in a joint educational program. Shortly after launch, grade-school children will actually be able to conduct health-examinations of LCROSS on its journey to the moon.

While some children fiddle with their Nintendo DS, others take advantage of this unique opportunity to ask Northrop’s expert panel their prodding questions. “What would happen if we killed the only living thing on the moon?” A girl eloquently inquires with a genuine concern. Tom Romesser, the VP of Technology & Emerging Systems Division and the other half of the expert panel fields the girl’s question, gently assuring her that scientists were quite sure there were no living creatures on the moon. Minutes later, the same girl — no older than 12 years old — pops a follow-up question regarding the efficiency of He3 fuel over traditional nuclear power. Amidst bewildered applause and a beaming parent, it’s clear that the kid has a future in the biz. And that was perhaps more important than the launch itself.

LCROSS left the Earth at 5:32pm, it’s third and last launch window of the day. As the standing-room-only cafeteria erupted in cheer, the anxiety turned to pride. After a few minutes, the NASA feed eventually defaulted back to a standard mission graphic and the room started to file out. As kids fought their parents hand to get a complimentary LCROSS Mission Badge, an older engineer turns to his colleage. “Reminds me of when I was in school — they’d let us watch the Gemini launches.” His friend chuckles. “Did I just date myself?”