My SKY & Telescope email notes that the LADEE mission is coming to an end and that they are going in for some really low orbits to get as much information as possible before the final impact on the far side of the moon on or about April 21st. It will an interesting ride as there will be a total lunar eclipse on the night of April 14-15 and things are going to be cold.
- LRK -.
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LADEE Skims the Moon Before Crash
NASA's Lunar Atmosphere Dust Environment Explorer will soon end its mission — but not before swooping close to the lunar surface and enduring the frigid darkness of a total lunar eclipse.
LADEE Skims the Moon Before Crash
NASA's Lunar Atmosphere Dust Environment Explorer will soon end its mission — but not before swooping close to the lunar surface and enduring the frigid darkness of a total lunar eclipse.
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Take the Plunge: LADEE Impact ChallengeNASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft is gradually lowering its orbital altitude over the moon. LADEE will continue to make important science observations before its planned impact into the lunar surface later this month.
When will it impact the lunar surface? NASA wants to hear your best guess!
LADEE mission managers expect the spacecraft will impact the moon’s surface on or before April 21. On April 11, ground controllers at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., will command LADEE to perform its final orbital maintenance maneuver prior to a total lunar eclipse on April 15, when Earth’s shadow passes over the moon. This eclipse, which will last approximately four hours, exposes the spacecraft to conditions just on the edge of what it was designed to survive.
This final maneuver will ensure that LADEE's trajectory will impact the far side of the moon, which is not in view of Earth and away from any previous lunar mission landings. There are no plans to target a particular impact location on the lunar surface, and the exact date and time depends on several factors.
"The moon's gravity field is so lumpy, and the terrain is so highly variable with crater ridges and valleys that frequent maneuvers are required or the LADEE spacecraft will impact the moon’s surface," said Butler Hine, LADEE project manager at Ames. "Even if we perform all maneuvers perfectly, there's still a chance LADEE could impact the moon sometime before April 21, which is when we expect LADEE's orbit to naturally decay after using all the fuel onboard."
Anyone is eligible to enter the "Take the Plunge: LADEE Impact Challenge." Winners will be announced after impact and will be e-mailed a commemorative, personalized certificate from the LADEE program. The submissions deadline is 3 p.m. PDT Friday, April 11.
For more information about the challenge and to enter, visit: http://socialforms.
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LADEE News and FeaturesThe LADEE spacecraft's modular common spacecraft bus, or body, is an innovative way of transitioning away from custom designs and toward multi-use designs and assembly-line production, which could drastically reduce the cost of spacecraft development, just as the Ford Model T did for automobiles. NASA's Ames Research Center designed, developed, built, and tested the spacecraft and manages mission operations.
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