NASA Selects Team to Build Lunar Lander

Michael Braukus/J.D. Harrington
Headquarters, Washington Sept. 30, 2005
(Phone: 202/358-1979/5241)

RELEASE: 05-289

NASA SELECTS TEAM TO BUILD LUNAR LANDER

NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for the Exploration
Systems Mission Directorate Doug Cooke today announced the selection
of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., and
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., to lead a team
in the development of a lunar lander spacecraft.

The lander is tentatively planned for launch as early as 2010.
It will demonstrate the ability for precision landings at targeted
locations on the moon; evaluate landing zone environment; and
determine if lunar resources can support a sustained human presence.

"This mission will have as a primary objective to determine
whether there is water-ice in the permanently dark areas within
craters in the moon's polar regions. The existence of water-ice
has important implications in living off the land when we return
with human explorers," Cooke said. "The lunar lander will test
critical automated descent and precision landing capabilities
needed for human landings, including surface hazard avoidance
during landing. The discoveries from this mission and the data
it collects will play a vital role in humans returning to the
moon and living there for extended periods," he added.

The Robotic Lunar Exploration Program (RLEP) program is intended
to provide a series of robotic missions to support human exploration.
The lunar lander spacecraft is the second RLEP mission. The
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is the first mission developed
under the RLEP. The LRO is being built at Goddard and is scheduled
for launch in 2008. The orbiter will carry six instruments that
will map and photograph the lunar surface, search for surface
ice deposits, and investigate space radiation.

For information about NASA and the new era of space exploration
on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/home

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