Program History
Initially, the LPRP program was a part of the Science Mission Directorate of NASA (SMD) and was called the Robotic Lunar Exploration Program (RLEP). Management of the RLEP program was assigned to Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in February, 2004. At that time, the Program's goal was to "...initiate a series of robotic missions to the Moon to prepare for and support future human exploration activities." In 2005, responsibility for RLEP was moved to NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) and management assigned to the Ames Research Center (ARC). In 2006, the program was renamed to the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program and management responsibility re-assigned to the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The US$583 million space mission comes equipped with a $504 million state of the art 4,200 pounds (1,900 kg) LRO space probe and a $79 million LCROSS satellite.
Read more about this topic: Lunar Precursor Robotic Program
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