Washington: After successfully completing its mission confirmation review, NASA has decided to proceed with its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter project in 2008.
With the Orbiter NASA will be embarking on its mission to send humans to the moon after a 30-year hiatus.
The spacecraft will spend around one year mapping the moon from an average altitude of approximately 30 miles.
It will carry six instruments and one technology demonstration to conduct investigations specifically targeted at preparing for future human exploration.
The Orbiter is being built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, US. Various organisations throughout the US and one in Russia are providing the instruments for the Orbiter.
The instruments will generate a global map of the moon to determine which potential landing sites are free from hazards as well as to measure light and temperature patterns at the moon's poles.
It will also search for potential resources, such as water, and to assess the deep-space radiation environment and its potential effects on humans.
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