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More Details On:
Concept on a Napkin
The Clementine Story
The Background
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The Clementine Story
The Clementine story began in 1990 when
NASA administrator Richard Truly asked the Department
of Defense to consider a joint NASA/DoD mission that would achieve goals mutually
beneficial to both organizations. That request was given to the Strategic Defense
Initiative Organization (SDIO) [now known as the Ballistic
Missile Defense Organization (BMDO)] to investigate. A mission was conceived
to test the latest in space-based imaging components, using the Moon and a near-Earth
asteroid as celestial targets. The Clementine mission is the result of those
early investigations.
In January 1992, SDIO selected the Naval
Research Laboratory (NRL) to begin a concept study to lay out an approach to
implement the Clementine mission. SDIO and NRL investigated the latest technologies
ready for flight testing and selected a camera suite from the Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). SDIO and NRL worked out the details of
tracking support with NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN), and NASA provided a science
team to help select camera filters of interest to the planetary science community,
while maintaining filters of interest to SDIO. The Clementine team was beginning
to be formed.
In February 1992, SDIO informed NRL of its intent
to proceed with the implementation of Clementine. Funding was provided to
both NRL and LLNL in March 1992. The 22-month odyssey from concept to launch began.
By December 1992, SDIO, NRL, and LLNL had selected
the best available components and technical support from the United States aerospace
industry. One missing piece of hardware was even required from outside the U.S. and
was provided by the French Space Agency, CNES.
The team, though small, was now complete.
The spacecraft assembly began in May 1993 and
was completed in early September. System level testing was completed near the end
of December, and Clementine was shipped to Vandenberg AFB, CA, on December
30, 1993 to prepare for launching. A sophisticated deep-space spacecraft had been
put together in an astonishing short period of time. Clementine was tested
and integrated to the Titan II vehicle and launched on January 25, 1994, as planned
two years previously.
Clementine was placed in lunar orbit on
February 19, 1994, completing its highly successful lunar mapping mission and departing
lunar orbit on May 3, 1993.
The Clementine Program, consisting of
a small team from SDIO, NRL, LLNL, NASA, and industry, demonstrated a capability
for low-cost, high-value space exploration missions. Clementine represented
a new class of small and capable spacecraft that enable long-duration deep space
missions at low cost and provide significant advances in lightweight satellite technology.
Clementine offered many benefits to the
U.S. space program. Along with its primary military mission to qualify lightweight
technology, it returned valuable lunar data for the international civilian scientific
community that exceeded mission science objectives.Clementine also demonstrated
near-autonomous spacecraft operations, showing a pathway for reduced flight operations
costs on future DoD/NASA space missions.
Clementine showed the capability of the
national laboratories, working in conjunction with DoD,
NASA, industry, and international space organizations, to integrate, execute,
and operate meaningful space missions at low cost. These organizations comprise dedicated
professionals, who had an almost impossible challenge in front of them. Many long
days and nights were worked to achieve the results that this mission produced. Clementine
is living proof that the U.S. can still achieve great things in space.
Written by Paul Regeon, NRL Clementine Program Manager |
