Waspie_Dwarf Posted April 18, 2014 #1 Share Posted April 18, 2014 NASA Completes LADEE Mission with Planned Impact on Moon's Surface Ground controllers at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., have confirmed that NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft impacted the surface of the moon, as planned, between 9:30 and 10:22 p.m. PDT Thursday, April 17.LADEE lacked fuel to maintain a long-term lunar orbit or continue science operations and was intentionally sent into the lunar surface. The spacecraft's orbit naturally decayed following the mission's final low-altitude science phase. Read more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taniwha Posted April 18, 2014 #2 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I think this is hardly a moment to be proud of, No matter how beautiful the scientific poetry colours it, this type of reckless abandon should cease immediately. At the cheapest convenient moment I hope a clean up crew is deployed to retrieve the lunar rubbish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toast Posted April 18, 2014 #3 Share Posted April 18, 2014 (edited) I think this is hardly a moment to be proud of, No matter how beautiful the scientific poetry colours it, this type of reckless abandon should cease immediately. I do not think that anybody is some kind of proud about this event and it is likely that there was no other option than the one carried out. As LANDEE lacked on fuel it is likely that there was even no or not enough fuel for an orbit escape burn to take the probe away from the moon and away from the zone of influence of moons/earth gravity to avoid a comeback as space debris as this would endanger current and future missions. At the cheapest convenient moment I hope aclean up crew is deployed to retrieve the lunar rubbish. *spacepalm* Edited April 18, 2014 by toast 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taniwha Posted April 18, 2014 #4 Share Posted April 18, 2014 *spacepalm* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted April 18, 2014 Author #5 Share Posted April 18, 2014 (edited) taniwha, LADEE impacted the Moon at around 3,600 mph. You do realise that the energy realised by such an impact is going to basically vaporise a small spacecraft don't you? Actually, that is a rhetorical question, clearly you don't realise that. There will be no lunar debris to retrieve, just a small, new crater. Edited April 23, 2014 by Waspie_Dwarf typo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted April 23, 2014 Author #6 Share Posted April 23, 2014 NASA Completes LADEE Mission with Planned Impact on Moon's SurfaceOn April 17, 2014, between 9:30 p.m and 10:22 p.m. PDT, NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft successfully completed a planned de-orbit, bringing an end to the mission to study the structure and composition of the thin lunar atmosphere.For more information about the LADEE mission, please visit: http://www.nasa.gov/LADEEFor more information about NASA Ames, please visit: http://www.nasa.gov/amesCredit: NASA/Ames Research CenterSource: NASA/Ames - Multimedia 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now