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Concept on a Napkin
The Clementine Story
The Background |
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Background
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Representatives of the Naval
Research Laboratory's (NRL's) Naval Center for Space Technology (NCST) were first
briefed on the Clementine mission in November 1991 while at the Strategic
Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) in the Pentagon to discuss the on-going Low-power Atmospheric Compensation
Experiment (LACE) Program. The NCST representatives were casually asked if they
had extra time to listen to a concept for a new space mission of interest to SDIO.
The concept involved a lunar imaging and asteroid flyby mission using a Scout rocket
as a launch vehicle. The key to the use of such a small launch vehicle was the successful
development (under SDIO sponsorship) of a multitude of small, lightweight space components.
A skeptical group of scientists headed back to NRL that afternoon to begin calculating
the feasibility of the proposed mission.
Initial calculations produced discouraging
results. Launch, using the small Scout rocket, was impossible but had appeared viable
to SDIO because kilograms had been mislabeled as pounds. However SDIO progress in
producing lightweight versions of essential hardware had been so great that launch
by the next larger class of launch vehicles (Taurus, Conestoga, Titan II) might be
possible. The size of the launch vehicle is important because a larger launch vehicle
means greater mission cost for both the rocket and the spacecraft. In mid-December
1991, NCST began a 3-month effort to verify the feasibility of the Clementine
mission by working through a preliminary mission plan and spacecraft design. After
2 months, it was clear to NCST and SDIO that the concept was feasible but risky.
In the enthusiasm to get the mission started, SDIO sent several million dollars immediately
rather than wait for the formal acceptance of the program by NRL management, which
did occur in mid-March 1992.
Several months before the initial contact
with NCST, SDIO had approached the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) to see if there was any interest in the data
the Clementine mission might provide. NASA was interested and quickly appointed
an ad hoc Science Advisory Committee, which initially would be responsible for defining
the scientific goals of the mission. This committee worked closely with the NCST
personnel during the 3-month effort to produce the mission plan and spacecraft design.
Later NASA would use a competitive process to formally appoint a NASA Science Team
(April 1993) to support the mission until the time the data are deposited in an archiving
center. Thus when the Deep Space Program Science Experiment (DSPSE) mission was accepted
by NRL, the primary objective was to provide a long-term test in space of hardware
and algorithms developed by SDIO; the secondary objective was to obtain data useful
for scientific investigations. Additionally, in its mission to develop new technology
for spacecraft, NCST was interested in the hardware developed by SDIO and also in
testing hardware and software that had been developed through NCST.
- from: Clementine - A Mission to the Moon (and Beyond) Donald
M. Horan and Paul A. Regeon Naval Center for Space Technology
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