LRO will return global data, such as day-night temperature maps, a global geodetic grid, high resolution color imaging and the moon’s UV albedo. The spacecraft will be placed in low polar orbit (50 km) for a 1-year mission under NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. LRO will find safe landing sites, locate potential resources, characterize the radiation environment, and demonstrate new technology. It is the first mission in NASA’s Vision for Space Exploration, a plan to return to the moon and then to travel to Mars and beyond. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is scheduled for launch in late 2008.

Log on to the “Send Your Name to the Moon” Web site at: Submission is **FREE** but the deadline for submitting names is June 27, 2008. You even get to print a certificate verifying your participation in the LRO “Send Your Name to the Moon” Project. Your name will orbit around the moon for years to come! Participants can have their name entered into a database that will be placed on a microchip that will be integrated onto the LRO spacecraft. – NASA invites you to participate in future lunar exploration by sending your name to the moon aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, spacecraft.

Lunark name