Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Update to my LADEE update

Daniel , in Germany, sent me an email with concerns about why more folks, especially space journalists, are not talking more about the LADEE mission. He suggested that "The Astrogator's Guild" should be on your reading list. (my paraphrasing)  See link below.

-------------------------------------------
The Astrogator's Guild

Mike, John and other astrogators guide you through the gravity fields of space

LADEE Trajectory Update: 10-08-13

LADEE is now in its last rev in the 24 hour capture orbit, and preparing for LOI-2, which will lower the spacecraft into a 4 hr orbit.  LOI-2 is scheduled for 10:38 UTC (3:38 AM PDT) Wed. morning, Oct. 9. Here’s the view from LADEE to the Moon:


Daniels website is in German, which you might also like to follow.

-------------------------------------------
Skyweek Zwei Punkt Null
-------------------------------------------

AGI makes the STK and ASTROGATOR program.

-------------------------------------------
AGI develops commercial modeling and analysis software for the space, defense and intelligence communities. Used by more than 40,000 engineers, operators and analysts worldwide, AGI software avoids the cost of reinvention, eliminates stovepipes and reduces risks associated with unproven tools.

NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft is in the nose-cone of the Minotaur V rocket, awaiting launch from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia tonight at 11:27 p.m. EDT. This mission marks many firsts—it’s the first spacecraft built in-house at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., without a prime contractor, the first launch of the U.S. Air Force’s five-stage Minotaur V vehicle, managed and operated by Orbital Sciences Corp., the first lunar mission flown by Orbital and the first lunar mission launched out of Wallops. According to the NASA website, this approximately 160-day “robotic mission will orbit the Moon to gather detailed information about the structure and composition of the thin lunar atmosphere and determine whether dust is being lofted into the lunar sky. Once launched, the spacecraft will enter into a series of phasing orbits that will allow it to approach the Moon from its leading edge, travel behind it and reemerge to execute a 3-minute Lunar Orbit Insertion maneuver that will place it in an elliptical retrograde equatorial orbit for 24 hours. A series of maneuvers will then be performed to reduce the orbit to nearly circular with a 156-mile altitude. After this, a 100-day Science Phase will commence, followed by a decommissioning period when the altitude will be lowered and the spacecraft will impact the lunar surface.”

-------------------------------------------

And again, Wikepedia has a good run down on LADEE.

-------------------------------------------
Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment ExplorerThe Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is a NASA lunar exploration mission led by Ames Research Centerin collaboration with Goddard Space Flight Center. It was launched on a Minotaur V from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on September 7, 2013, at 03:27 UTC.[4] During its nominal 100-day scientific mission, LADEE will orbit around the Moon's equator, and use instruments aboard the spacecraft to study the lunar exosphere and dust in the Moon's vicinity. Instruments include a dust detector, a neutral mass spectrometer, and an ultraviolet-visible spectrometer, as well as a technology demonstration consisting of a lasercommunications terminal.[5] (see Free-space optical communication "lasercom")
-------------------------------------------

SFLIGHT101 has a very pictorial account on the LADEE mission if you have not seen.

-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.  
- LRK -

WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

===========================================