Date posted: 11/13/2008*

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which is set for launch in the spring of 2009, has earned the number three spot on TIME magazine’s list of Best Inventions of 2008. Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) provided key components of the LRO’s miniaturized-radio frequency system that will help to determine whether the polar regions of the moon contain ice.

In October, a similar system built by SAS was launched aboard India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, now in orbit around the moon. Both the LRO and Chandrayaan-1 missions will study and map the lunar surface in advance of possible manned missions to the moon.

Another Raytheon program, Network Centric Systems’ (NCS) Active Protection System, was featured eighth among TIME’s 50 Best Inventions of 2008.