LUNAR GETAWAY SPECIAL The Lunar Getaway Special is a novel proposal to use a small ion propelled spacecraft to deliver chemical mapping and water locating instrumentation to the moon at very little cost. Deployed from a Getaway Special canister aboard a U.S. Space Shuttle in low Earth orbit, this probe propels itself to the Moon. Propulsion is provided by a pair of xenon- ion engines which provide low thrust but tremendous exhaust velocities. The long solar panels provide electricity for the ion engines. Time of flight from release in low Earth orbit to insertion into low lunar orbit is approximately two years. These photographs depict a Lunar Getaway Special mission. Lunar Get A way Special (LGAS) being ejected from space shuttle cargo bay. Top view of LGAS seconds after deployment from the shuttle. LGAS beginning to deploy its solar cell array. Lunar polar probe in low polar orbit around the Moon. Solar cell array during deployment sequence. Spacecraft with gamma ray spectrometer (in cylinder) fully deployed. Lunar Getaway Special flight profile LUNAR GET AWAY SPECIAL (GAS) SPACECRAFT
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