Moon Probe Delayed
by Frank Sietzen "SpaceCast News Service"
Washington - July 3, 1997 - NASA's fourth flight in the Discovery program, a mapping mission to the Moon scheduled for launch this fall, is facing delays caused by problems on Earth, industry sources have told SpaceCast. The Lunar Prospector mission, due for launch Sept. 24th aboard a Lockheed Martin LMLV-2 booster, will not be launching that month, or possibly later in the fall, LM engineers have told Project Manager Alan Binder. Problems with the booster, which would be making its first flight with the lunar probe, have caused the delay, according to SpaceCast sources in Washington.

Problems with the new small Lockheed rockets have delayed NASA probes Lewis and Clark, and have also delayed launches from both Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as well as Cape Canaveral in Florida. Space officials are now hoping the LMLV-2 will be ready to support a lunar blast-off in either late October or, more likely, November, although sources tell SpaceCast even those dates are not yet confirmed.

The Prospector mission is to conduct a low altitude chemical and selenophysical mapping flight of the moon in a one year mission. The craft is to create a global map of the moon, and look for the presence of ice at the lunar poles. Determination of the lunar magnetic fields is also a goal.

Lunar Prospector
SPACE.WIRE