LADEE to end mission this month
Posted: Tue, Apr 8, 2014, 6:39 AM ET (1039 GMT)
A NASA spacecraft orbiting the Moon since last fall will end its mission later this month by crashing to the lunar surface, NASA officials said Thursday. The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft will gradually lower its orbit over the next few weeks before impacting the lunar surface on or before April 21. The spacecraft, launched in September and in lunar orbit since early October, has been studying the Moon's extremely tenuous atmosphere and dust environment, completing its 100-day prime mission earlier this year. Because of uncertainties in the orbit, spacecraft controllers have not selected a specific impact site on the lunar surface. A complicating factor in the final phase of the spacecraft's mission is a lunar eclipse on April 15 that will keep the spacecraft in shadow for four hours, putting the spacecraft at the limits of conditions it was designed to operate in.
A NASA spacecraft orbiting the Moon since last fall will end its mission later this month by crashing to the lunar surface, NASA officials said Thursday. The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft will gradually lower its orbit over the next few weeks before impacting the lunar surface on or before April 21. The spacecraft, launched in September and in lunar orbit since early October, has been studying the Moon's extremely tenuous atmosphere and dust environment, completing its 100-day prime mission earlier this year. Because of uncertainties in the orbit, spacecraft controllers have not selected a specific impact site on the lunar surface. A complicating factor in the final phase of the spacecraft's mission is a lunar eclipse on April 15 that will keep the spacecraft in shadow for four hours, putting the spacecraft at the limits of conditions it was designed to operate in.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
China launches first Long March 12A, but booster landing fails
Posted: Sun, Dec 28 9:50 AM ET (1450 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Monday, December 29
Iran Says It Launched 3 Satellites Into Space From Russia
AFP — 5:08 am ET (1008 GMT) Starlink withdraws satellite services from Papua New Guinea
Radio New Zealand — 5:07 am ET (1007 GMT) SpaceX Rocket Launch of Italian Satellite Scrubbed Again
Noozhawk — 5:04 am ET (1004 GMT) If we're going to vacation on the Moon, we need to make sure no-one is left behind
BBC — 5:03 am ET (1003 GMT) New Outer Hebrides spaceport won't launch rockets on a Sunday
The Sunday Post — 5:02 am ET (1002 GMT) |
