Saturday, January 2, 2010

More on MoonRise New Frontiers Proposal

Bruce Moomaw contacted Brad Jolliff, the PI, and learned a bit more about this proposal:

"We are planning a single lander, but this should not be considered a 'descope.'  The MoonRise proposal for this New Frontiers opportunity was a new proposal.  As such, we think (and have made the case) that we can accomplish the science objectives of the mission with a single lander and an appropriately selected landing site within the South Pole-Aitken Basin. With all of the remote-sensing information collected by recent and current orbital assets (SMART-1, Kaguya, Chang'e-1, Chandrayaan-1, and LRO), we can optimize our landing site both for science and landing-site safety considerations."

MoonRise will return 1 kg of samples.  They will also be including a relay comsat, which is not exactly a surprise.  They hope to put up a website on "Moonrise" later this month.

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