14 DAY TRIAL // The American space agency recently announced that it pushed back the launch data for its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission to June 2nd, the last in a row of delays that had plagued NASA's vanguard expedition to the Moon. The launch of the LRO is essential for the plans of sending astronauts back to Earth's satellite until 2020, aboard the next-generation ARES rockets and Altair landing vehicles.
The US Air Force's Wideband Global Satcom-2 (WGS-2) communications satellite was, again, responsible for the delay. Its take-off is scheduled to take place before that of the orbiter, but the problem is that malfunctions detected on the Atlas 5 delivery system that WGS-2 will use have already postponed its launch twice. After the Air Force's machine is delivered to orbit, engineers will need approximately 2 months of ground work before the LRO can be dispatched.
That is to say, both crafts are scheduled to take-off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, from the same launch pad. After each launch, the platforms need to be revised and new rockets produced.
In charge of this process is the United Launch Alliance, the Denver-based manufacturer and operator of both the Atlas and the Delta delivery systems. The problem is that the ULA can get to work on the LRO only after the communications satellite is launched.
Originally, the lunar orbiter was supposed to be launched before the end of 2008, but a number of reasons prevented the event from happening. Two times already, the WGS-2 has proven unworthy to fly, and the LRO needs the other satellite to launch, if it's to leave the ground.
Other dates for take-off were scheduled in April and May, but all proved to be unreachable targets. In order to launch the observation craft, NASA needs to profit from 4-day windows it gets every 12 days, and therefore it will be able to launch the LRO anytime between June 2nd and June 6th.