[meteorite-list] NASA Prepares for First Virginia Coast Launch to Moon (LADEE)

[Ron Baalke]

August 22, 2013

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov 

Rachel Hoover
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-604-4789
rachel.hoover at nasa.gov 

Keith Koehler
Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia
757-824-1579
keith.a.koehler at nasa.gov 
     
RELEASE 13-265
     
NASA Prepares for First Virginia Coast Launch to Moon

In an attempt to answer prevailing questions about our moon, NASA is making  
final preparations to launch a probe at 11:27 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 6, from  
NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va.

The small car-sized Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is  
a robotic mission that will orbit the moon to gather detailed information  
about the structure and composition of the thin lunar atmosphere and  
determine whether dust is being lofted into the lunar sky. A thorough  
understanding of these characteristics of our nearest celestial neighbor will  
help researchers understand other bodies in the solar system, such as large  
asteroids, Mercury, and the moons of outer planets.

"The moon's tenuous atmosphere may be more common in the solar system than we  
thought," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science in  
Washington. "Further understanding of the moon's atmosphere may also help us  
better understand our diverse solar system and its evolution."

The mission has many firsts, including the first flight of the Minotaur V  
rocket, testing of a high-data-rate laser communication system, and the first  
launch beyond Earth orbit from the agency's Virginia Space Coast launch  
facility.

LADEE also is the first spacecraft designed, developed, built, integrated and  
tested at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. The probe will  
launch on a U.S. Air Force Minotaur V rocket, an excess ballistic missile  
converted into a space launch vehicle and operated by Orbital Sciences Corp.  
of Dulles, Va.

LADEE was built using an Ames-developed Modular Common Spacecraft Bus  
architecture, a general purpose spacecraft design that allows NASA to  
develop, assemble and test multiple modules at the same time. The LADEE bus  
structure is made of a lightweight carbon composite with a mass of 547.2  
pounds -- 844.4 pounds when fully fueled.

"This mission will put the common bus design to the test," said Ames Director  
S. Pete Worden. "This same common bus can be used on future missions to  
explore other destinations, including voyages to orbit and land on the moon,  
low-Earth orbit, and near-Earth objects."

Butler Hine, LADEE project manager at Ames, said the innovative common bus  
concept brings NASA a step closer to multi-use designs and assembly line  
production and away from custom design. "The LADEE mission demonstrates how  
it is possible to build a first class spacecraft at a reduced cost while  
using a more efficient manufacturing and assembly process," Hine said.

Approximately one month after launch, LADEE will begin its 40-day  
commissioning phase, the first 30 days of which the spacecraft will be  
performing activities high above the moon's surface. These activities include  
testing a high-data-rate laser communication system that will enable higher  
rates of satellite communications similar in capability to high-speed fiber  
optic networks on Earth.

After commissioning, LADEE will begin a 100-day science phase to collect data  
using three instruments to determine the composition of the thin lunar  
atmosphere and remotely sense lofted dust, measure variations in the chemical  
composition of the atmosphere, and collect and analyze samples of any lunar  
dust particles in the atmosphere. Using this set of instruments, scientists  
hope to address a long-standing question: Was lunar dust, electrically  
charged by sunlight, responsible for the pre-sunrise glow above the lunar  
horizon detected during several Apollo missions?

After launch, Ames will serve as a base for mission operations and real-time  
control of the probe. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.,  
will catalogue and distribute data to a science team located across the  
country.

NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington funds the LADEE mission.  
Ames manages the overall mission. Goddard manages the science instruments and  
technology demonstration payload, the science operations center and provides  
overall mission support. Wallops is responsible for launch vehicle  
integration, launch services and operations. NASA's Marshall Space Flight  
Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages LADEE within the Lunar Quest Program  
Office.

For more information about the LADEE mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ladee 

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