[Satellite Today 05-25-09] NASA plans on launching two satellites in June with a mission to assist the agency in returning to the Moon, NASA announced May 21.
    The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Centaur are scheduled to launch June 17 aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Fla., NASA said.
    NASA will use LRO to create high resolution, three-dimensional maps of the Moon’s surface and to study the effects that its radiation environment may have on humans.
    The LCROSS Centaur will make an intentional impact in a crater at one of the moon’s poles. The impact is expected to make a plume of debris in direct sunlight, which the LRO and the Hubble Space Telescope will examine for water and ice, NASA said.