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 […]

NASA Extends LADEE Moon Exploring Satellite Mission “NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, or LADEE, observatory has been approved for a 28-day mission extension. The spacecraft is now expected to impact the lunar surface on or around April 21, 2014, depending on the final trajectory. The extension provides an opportunity for the satellite to gather an additional full lunar cycle worth of very low-altitude data to help scientists unravel […]

China aims for the Moon, Nature “Space analysts expect that the lunar and crewed objectives of China’s space-flight programme will merge, with Chinese astronauts (known as taikonauts) aiming to walk on the Moon some time in the 2020s.” – China will achieve first soft landing on the moon, CNTV (Video) – Meet China’s Jade Rabbit, the peace-loving moon rover, Quartz (Photos) – NASA Exploration Ideas – With Added China Bashing […]

China’s 1st Moon Lander May Cause Trouble for NASA Lunar Dust Mission, Space.com “Conversely, with some sort of communication between the missions, including NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO),” talk between countries could enhance both LADEE and Chang’e 3 investigations, [Clive] Neal said. “What we have here is a situation where politics is certainly inhibiting good scientific cooperation and discovery because the NASA mission people are not allowed to communicate bilaterally […]

Keith’s note: According to someone at NASA: “LADEE just completed a successful firing of its main engine in the second lunar orbit insertion (LOI-2) burn! We are now in a 4 hour elliptic orbit, with the perilune at our commissioning altitude. This follows the LOI-1 burn on Oct 6 that first got us into lunar orbit. The accuracy of the LOI-1 burn was such that we did not need to […]

Keith’s note: According to someone at NASA: “Early this morning (October 6), we fired LADEE’s main engine in a braking maneuver known as the Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) burn. This slowed the spacecraft’s velocity enough for it to be captured by the Moon’s gravity. This critical burn went flawlessly and LADEE is now in lunar orbit! Two more main engine burns, on October 9 and 12 will adjust LADEE’s trajectory, […]

Ground Control to Major Frog, Burrito Justice (w/cool frog GIF) “Ground Control to Major Frog Commencing countdown engines on WTF are you doing in the pond Check ignition and may frog’s love be with you”

Keith’s 3:10 pm EDT note: LADEE slipped into safe mode again yesterday morning when its star trackers experienced an alignment error. This error has been fixed and the spacecraft is expected to exit safe mode today and proceed normally with the mission. Keith’s 5:16 pm EDT update: I just got this baffling update from ARC PAO 4 hours after I asked for a statement (they have been sitting on this […]

LADEE is Heading For The Moon with One Small Glitch (with video) “NASA has confirmed that the reaction wheels of its Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) were successfully brought back on-line and the spacecraft has acquired its safe-mode attitude profile.” Mission updates will be carried on NASA TV. You can also track mission status by following @NASALADEE or at the mission website. Space Laser: Testing an Interplanetary Internet […]

How to Watch the Launch of LADEE (with lots of images), Orbital ” … Although the views are shown in daylight, the LADEE launch is scheduled to occur at approximately 11:27 PM EST. The views below give an indication of the direction where you should look to see the launch, along with nearby features. In addition, weather and local lighting conditions can and will have a large effect on what […]