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Cover: A mosaic of the Moon's south polar region assembled from images taken by the Clementine spacecraft. Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.
COMMITTEE ON PLANETARY AND LUNAR EXPLORATION
RONALD GREELEY,
Arizona State University,
Continuing Chair
JAMES ARNOLD,**
University of California, San Diego
FRANCES BAGENAL,
University of Colorado
JEFFREY R. BARNES,
Oregon State University
GEOFFREY A. BRIGGS,*
NASA Ames Research Center
MICHAEL H. CARR,*
U.S. Geological Survey
PHILIP R. CHRISTENSEN,**
Arizona State University
RUSSELL DOOLITTLE,
University of California, San Diego
JAMES L. ELLIOT,*
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
HEIDI HAMMEL,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
BARRY H. MAUK,*
Applied Physics Laboratory
GEORGE McGILL,
University of Massachusetts
WILLIAM B. McKINNON,*
Washington University
HARRY McSWEEN, JR.,
University of Tennessee
TED ROUSH,
San Francisco State University
JOHN RUMMEL,
Marine Biological Laboratory
GERALD SCHUBERT,
University of California, Los Angeles
EUGENE SHOEMAKER,
Lowell Observatory
DARRELL F. STROBEL,**
Johns Hopkins University
ALAN T. TOKUNAGA,**
University of Hawaii
ROGER YELLE,**
Boston University
MARIA T. ZUBER,**
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Staff
DAVID H. SMITH, Study Director
ALTORIA B. ROSS, Senior Program Assistant
ERIN C. HATCH, Research Assistant
MICHAEL FEY, Research Assistant
STEPHANIE ROY, Research Assistant
SPACE STUDIES BOARD
CLAUDE R. CANIZARES,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Chair
MARK R. ABBOTT,
Oregon State University
JOHN A. ARMSTRONG,*
IBM Corporation (retired)
JAMES P. BAGIAN,
Environmental Protection Agency
DANIEL N. BAKER,
University of Colorado, Boulder
LAWRENCE BOGORAD,
Harvard University
DONALD E. BROWNLEE,
University of Washington
JOSEPH A. BURNS,*
Cornell University
JOHN J. DONEGAN,
John Donegan Associates, Inc.
GERARD W. ELVERUM, JR.,
TRW
ANTHONY W. ENGLAND,
University of Michigan
DANIEL J. FINK,*
D.J. Fink Associates, Inc.
MARTIN E. GLICKSMAN,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
RONALD GREELEY,
Arizona State University
BILL GREEN, former member,
U.S. House of Representatives
HAROLD J. GUY,*
University of California, San Diego
NOEL W. HINNERS,*
Lockheed Martin Astronautics
ANDREW H. KNOLL,
Harvard University
JANET G. LUHMANN,
University of California, Berkeley
JOHN H. McELROY,*
University of Texas, Arlington
ROBERTA BALSTAD MILLER,
CIESIN
BERRIEN MOORE III,
University of New Hampshire
KENNETH H. NEALSON,
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
MARY JANE OSBORN,
University of Connecticut Health Center
SIMON OSTRACH,
Case Western Reserve University
MORTON B. PANISH,
AT&T Bell Laboratories (retired)
CARLÉ M. PIETERS,
Brown University
JUDITH PIPHER,*
University of Rochester
MARCIA J. RIEKE,
University of Arizona
ROLAND SCHMITT,*
Clifton Park, New York
JOHN A. SIMPSON,
University of Chicago
ARTHUR B.C. WALKER, JR.,*
Stanford University
ROBERT E. WILLIAMS,
Space Telescope Science Institute
MARC S. ALLEN, Director
COMMISSION ON PHYSICAL SCIENCES, MATHEMATICS, AND APPLICATIONS
ROBERT J. HERMANN,
United Technologies Corporation,
Co-chair
W. CARL LINEBERGER,
University of Colorado, Boulder,
Co-chair
PETER M. BANKS,
Environmental Research Institute of Michigan
LAWRENCE D. BROWN,
University of Pennsylvania
RONALD G. DOUGLAS,
Texas A&M University
JOHN E. ESTES,
University of California, Santa Barbara
L. LOUIS HEGEDUS,
Elf Atochem North America, Inc.
JOHN E. HOPCROFT,
Cornell University
RHONDA J. HUGHES,
Bryn Mawr College
SHIRLEY A. JACKSON,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
KENNETH H. KELLER,
University of Minnesota
KENNETH I. KELLERMANN,
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
MARGARET G. KIVELSON,
University of California, Los Angeles
DANIEL KLEPPNER,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
JOHN KREICK,
Sanders, a Lockheed Martin Company
MARSHA I. LESTER,
University of Pennsylvania
THOMAS A. PRINCE,
California Institute of Technology
NICHOLAS P. SAMIOS,
Brookhaven National Laboratory
L.E. SCRIVEN,
University of Minnesota
SHMUEL WINOGRAD,
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
CHARLES A. ZRAKET,
MITRE Corporation (retired)
NORMAN METZGER, Executive Director
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Foreword
Thirty years after Ranger 7's first close-up photography of the Moon and 25 years after the Apollo 11 astronauts' first steps, the compact Clementine satellite entered lunar orbit. Whereas Apollo remains the most ambitious and expensive U.S. space endeavor, Clementine is an archetype of the "smaller, faster, cheaper" approach dictated by today's fiscal realities.
Clementine was the product of innovative technical and management approaches in the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization of the Department of Defense. Its primary goal was to demonstrate that advanced capabilities could be achieved at relatively low cost; the scientific objectives were secondary.
In this study, the Space Studies Board' s Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration (COMPLEX) considers some lessons to be learned from Clementine about reaping the most science possible from a technology-focused space mission and about the relevance of this experience to future NASA satellites that leave low Earth orbit. Not surprisingly, many of the findings stated here echo a recent Space Studies Board report assessing changes in the Explorer program of Earth-orbiting satellites.1 Both studies focus on the need for crisp management structures with adequate authority and responsibility to ensure that projects will be executed quickly—since there are natural limits on how quickly project money can be effectively spent, "faster" is almost synonymous with "cheaper."
This report complements COMPLEX's earlier examination of the role of small missions in solar system research.2 Taken together, these studies are cautiously optimistic about the possibility of addressing some high-priority solar system exploration with spacecraft of modest cost. Whatever else it accomplished, Clementine's success in mapping the Moon established an important precedent for the conduct of space research.
CLAUDE R. CANIZARES, CHAIR
SPACE STUDIES BOARD
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Preface
The Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration (COMPLEX) advises the Space Studies Board on the entire range of planetary science studies; these include both ground-based activities and space-based efforts. The disciplinary scope of this advice includes the geosciences, atmospheres, exobiology, particles and fields, planetary astronomy, and the search for planets around other stars.
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO)/National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Clementine mission was designed to space-qualify advanced, lightweight imaging sensors and component technologies and to test autonomous operation for the next generation of Department of Defense spacecraft. A secondary objective was to perform a 2-month global mapping survey of the Moon at several visible/infrared wavelengths and an imaging flyby of the near-Earth asteroid 1620 Geographos. Because of a software error, the asteroid flyby along with its accompanying test of the autonomous acquisition and tracking of a cold body was aborted. Clementine implemented a streamlined management approach that included a rapid design and development program, with an approval-to-launch time line of 22 months and innovative mission operations and data handling setups. The spacecraft was designed, built, tested, launched, and operated for a reported cost of $80 million.
With a trend toward smaller, focused space science missions (such as those in NASA's Discovery, Mars Surveyor, Earth Probe, Small Explorer, and MidEx programs), the Clementine experience may hold lessons for both the scientific and engineering communities as they enter an era of "smaller, faster, cheaper" missions. As a result, in late summer 1994, the Space Studies Board charged COMPLEX to conduct a study to:
- Understand the lessons learned from Clementine with regard to its schedule, budget, management approach, technology utilization, mission operations, and data processing procedures;
- Assess in a preliminary way the scientific return of the Clementine mission in the context of its instrument complement and mission profile; and
- Make recommendations as to how positive aspects of Clementine can be incorporated into NASA's future small-spacecraft missions.
Although the study formally began at COMPLEX' s October 1994 meeting, many of the committee members were already familiar with the outlines of the mission from briefings received from, among others, Eugene
Shoemaker,* leader of the Clementine science team, during the preparation of a short report on Clementine in 1992 ("Scientific Assessment of the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization's Integrated Sensor Experiment (Clementine)," a letter report sent to Simon P. Worden and Wesley T. Huntress, Jr., on August 21, 1992). In addition, COMPLEX was briefed on Clementine by its program manager at BMDO, Col. Pedro Rustan, and also toured the Clementine control center in late 1993 (i.e., prior to launch) during the preparation of its report, The Role of Small Missions in Planetary and Lunar Exploration (National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1995). Lastly, shortly after the mission ended, Maria Zuber, a member of the committee and a scientist associated with Clementine's Lidar instrument, briefed COMPLEX on the mission's preliminary science findings.
During the October 1994 meeting COMPLEX received presentations from members of the Clementine science team, including Alfred McEwen, Paul Lucey, and David E. Smith, and from the lunar science community in the person of Roger Phillips (chair of NASA's Lunar Exploration Science Working Group). Details on the operational aspects of Clementine were presented by Paul Regeon (Clementine program manager at the Naval Research Laboratory), Stewart Nozette (BMDO's deputy program manager for Clementine I), Donald Horan (science operations manager), and Trevor Sorensen (lunar mission manager). COMPLEX also received additional input on Clementine' s instrumentation, technology, and operations in the form of copies of presentations given at the Clementine Engineering and Technology Workshop (Lake Tahoe, July 18-19, 1994) and follow-up discussions with individual presenters. An initial draft of the report was finalized at COMPLEX's February 1995 meeting and received initial approval by the Space Studies Board in March 1995. The report was updated and extensively revised during the autumn and winter of 1996.