About Science-Nature - Probe returns first Moon images

About Science-Nature -

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) reached the Moon on 23 June

The US space agency’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft has returned its first images since reaching the Moon on 23 June.

The probe’s two cameras returned images of a region in the lunar highlands south of Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds).

LRO blasted off on 18 June atop an Atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Its data will help mission planners select future landing sites and scout locations for lunar outposts.

"Our first images were taken along the Moon’s terminator - the dividing line between day and night - making us initially unsure of how they would turn out," said Mark Robinson, from Arizona State University in Tempe, US.

Professor Robinson, who is chief scientist on the spacecraft’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) instrument, added: "Because of the deep shadowing, subtle topography is exaggerated, suggesting a craggy and inhospitable surface.

"In reality, the area is similar to the region where the Apollo 16 astronauts safely explored in 1972."

LRO will spend at least one year orbiting the Moon, using its six instruments to collect detailed information about the lunar environment.

It was one of two payloads launched on the same rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The second mission, called the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), will send a rocket crashing into the Moon to scour the debris plume for evidence of water ice.