TO THE MOON, MARS, AND BEYOND: LADEE Has Entered Lunar Orbit

Monday, October 07, 2013

LADEE Has Entered Lunar Orbit - so it is said

My SpaceRef Daily News letter says LADEE has entered lunar orbit.

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http://spaceref.com/moon/ladee-has-entered-lunar-orbit.html

Posted by Keith Cowing - Source: SpaceRef
Posted October 6, 2013 10:31 AM

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, settling it into its commissioning orbit."

LADEE Wikipedia Page

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Wikepedia has a good run down on LADEE.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Atmosphere_and_Dust_Environment_Explorer

Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer
The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is a NASA lunar exploration mission led by Ames Research Centerin collaboration with Goddard Space Flight Center. It was launched on a Minotaur V from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on September 7, 2013, at 03:27 UTC.^[4] During its nominal 100-day scientific mission, LADEE will orbit around the Moon's equator, and use instruments aboard the spacecraft to study the lunar exosphere and dust in the Moon's vicinity. Instruments include a dust detector, a neutral mass spectrometer, and an ultraviolet-visible spectrometer, as well as a technology demonstration consisting of a lasercommunications terminal.^[5] (see Free-space optical communication "lasercom")

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SFLIGHT101 has a very pictorial account on the LADEE mission if you have not seen.

http://www.spaceflight101.com/

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http://www.spaceflight101.com/ladee-spacecraft-overview.html

http://www.spaceflight101.com/lade-science-instruments.html

http://www.spaceflight101.com/ladee-lunar-laser-communication-demonstration.html

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We will have to wait until NASA gets back to work to follow what is happening from NASA Ames and Goddard Spceflight Center.

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ladee/main/index.html

http://notice.usa.gov/

Others are talking though. Thanks.