NASA Launches Mission to Study Moon Atmosphere, Dust

NASA Launches Mission to Study Moon Atmosphere, Dust

NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) was successfully launched September 6 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. LADEE is on its way to arrive at the moon in 30 days, then enter lunar orbit, the space agency said.

LADEE is a robotic mission that will orbit the moon to gather detailed information about the lunar atmosphere, conditions near the surface, and environmental influences on lunar dust. A thorough understanding of these characteristics of the Earth’s nearest celestial neighbor will help researchers understand other bodies in the solar system, such as Mercury, outer planets’ moons and larger asteroids, NASA has said.

During technical checkouts after launch, the LADEE spacecraft inappropriately commanded itself to shut down the reaction wheels used to position and stabilize the spacecraft. According to the LADEE mission operations team at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, this was determined to be the result of limits put in place before launch to safeguard the reaction wheels. The limits were adjusted and LADEE is now operating as expected, NASA said.

“The initial-checkout flight procedure is progressing,” said S. Pete Worden, Ames center director. “The reaction wheel issue noted soon after launch was resolved a few hours later. The LADEE spacecraft is healthy and communicating with mission operators.”

ENDS

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