LCROSS Flight Director's Blog
- June 2009
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Here is the list of entries for LCROSS Flight Director's Blog based on the selected criteria.
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Multi-Tasking: Day 4
Jun 26, 2009 04:00:44 AM | Paul.D Tompkins
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- The challenge of the LCROSS mission in the first week is to maintain the fast pace of the nominal mission plan, all while trying to find operational workarounds to the problems we've discovered. On Day 4 we successfully planned and executed TCM 3 and the Star Field Calibration, and also developed and tested candidate strategies for keeping our thrusters warm. All in a (long) days' work!
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Real-Life Operations: Day 3
Jun 23, 2009 02:08:38 AM | Paul.D Tompkins
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- A Flight Team truly justifies its existence when a spacecraft doesn't behave the way it should. Yesterday, the LCROSS team was investigating a number of smaller problematic behaviors, many of which were being retired as "signatures" of the design. However, one issue emerged as the most important, and our team spent most of today working on it. We're getting our first taste of real on-orbit problem solving experience...
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First Step and First Glance: Day 2
Jun 20, 2009 06:23:11 AM | Paul.D Tompkins
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- LCROSS reached two important milestones on Day 2 today - first, it successfully conducted its first Trajectory Correction Maneuver. Our first independent step after being pushed out of the figurative nest. It followed by opening its eyes for the first time with payload "Quicklook". As the Earth gets smaller and the Moon gets bigger, LCROSS continues to behave very well.
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Fly Me to the Moon
Jun 19, 2009 05:48:28 AM | Paul.D Tompkins
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- Today was truly a thrill - uncertainty until the final minutes as heavy weather passed through the Cape, and then a clearing for our final opportunity of the day. Launch was beautiful, and as Flight Director for the first shift of the flight, I can say that the spacecraft is operating well so far! We're on our way to a near-encounter with the moon on Tuesday at just about 4 AM Pacific.
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First Shot
Jun 18, 2009 03:36:31 AM | Paul.D Tompkins
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- LCROSS's first launch opportunity is June 18. We went to bed last night thinking Shuttle would launch, and if they didn't, we'd be scheduled for June 19. Surprise, surprise! Our team mobilized today to get everything ready for our first shot at the moon. This, and one of my readers suggested a great idea - to have people look for the gas plume vented by our Centaur upper stage before it cedes control to LCROSS.
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A Window Into LCROSS
Jun 16, 2009 01:16:29 AM | Paul.D Tompkins
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- The launch window for LCROSS opens this week. Starting Thursday, June 18, LCROSS has a shot at the Moon. As Space Shuttle and LRO/LCROSS negotiate their launch schedules, the LCROSS Flight Team is really anxious to get started.
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Lessons Learned: A Recap of First Week Rehearsal
Jun 05, 2009 03:49:34 AM | Paul.D Tompkins
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- The LCROSS First Week Rehearsal was all it was cooked up to be. With a fully realistic operations timeline, long hours, and a representative dose of problems inserted by our beloved Test Conductor, “FWR” was all-consuming.
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