The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter also has more instruments aboard and one of them, the Diviner Lunar Radiometer developed and operated by the California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is sending back some wild info about the Moon’s surface temperature.

The contraption works by measuring the infrared radiation’s intensity that’s emitted by the lunar surface. The hotter the surface, the great the emitted infrared radiation’s intensity. The map generated by Diviner will likely be used to help plan future manned Moon missions – whenever the hell that might be. But even still some of the info sent back is still of scientific value.

Apparently some spots on the lunar surface are always in a shadow and can nearly reach absolute zero. It’s thought that these spots can hold frozen water and might be some of the coldest spots in the galaxy including Pluto. These cold traps as they are called have been theorized about for nearly 50 years so you can imagine geek-types getting excited about the possible confirmation.

The unit will take about six months to complete its survey. The instrument was first turned activated on July 5 though, so it’s about 50% done.

NASA already has major budget issues so it’s a damn good thing the agency didn’t turn to AT&T to provide the wireless data coverage for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Because AT&T charges $0.0195 per kilobyte over a 5GB cap, it would cost roughly $231,883 for the daily data transmission of the 461GB. That’s $83,709,763 per year assuming AT&T didn’t come up with some charge for interplanetary roaming. All joking aside, this Moon satellite has an impressive data transmitter.

Somehow electrodes in a vacuum tube boosts microwave signals to high levels that are idea for transmitting large amounts of data. This amplifier can send data at a 100 megabytes a second back to Earth, more than 238,800 miles away. Similar designs were used on Kepler and Cassini, but the LRO‘s system is the most powerful. And it has to be if it’s taking high-res photos of the Moon’s surface.

As soon as the new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter sent back the first high-res photos of the moon a few days ago, I was eager to see the Apollo landing sites. It’s not that I didn’t believe that man walked on the moon 40 years ago, but rather out of simple nerd curiosity. Well, NASA made good on its promise and just released images showing the landing sites of Apollo 11, 14, 15, 16, and 17. I just wish that the pics could show a bit more. These are still impressive though considering the LRO is around 30 miles up and the descent stage module’s deck is only 12 feet in diameter. And yes, we know that these could have been photoshopped by a 10 year old, conspiracy nut. Move along.

NASA is gearing up for a trip back to the moon and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is one of the first steps. This satellite will orbit the moon at only 50 km and send back high resolution, 3D  images of the lunar surface to map out potential landing sites . And yes, it will be able to get clear photos of the Apollo gear left behind, which will no doubt send conspiracy idiots scrambling for more excuses.

NASA,

“Our first images were taken along the moon’s terminator — the dividing line between day and night — making us initially unsure of how they would turn out,” said LROC Principal Investigator Mark Robinson of Arizona State University in Tempe. “Because of the deep shadowing, subtle topography is exaggerated, suggesting a craggy and inhospitable surface. In reality, the area is similar to the region where the Apollo 16 astronauts safely explored in 1972. While these are magnificent in their own right, the main message is that LROC is nearly ready to begin its mission.”

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