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NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) launches, heads for the moon

Date:
September 7, 2013
Source:
NASA
Summary:
NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is on its way to the moon after launching Friday from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Team members are analyzing a situation with LADEE's reaction wheels, but say the spacecraft is communicating and working as designed, with plenty of time to resolve the issue before reaching lunar orbit.
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NASA has confirmed its Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) has separated from its ride into space, powered up and is communicating with ground controllers following a successful launch at 11:27 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 6, from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. LADEE is on its way to arrive at the moon in 30 days, then enter lunar orbit.

According to the LADEE mission operations team at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., during technical checkouts the LADEE spacecraft commanded itself to shut down the reaction wheels used to position and stabilize the spacecraft.

"The LADEE spacecraft is working as it was designed to under these conditions -- there's no indication of anything wrong with the reaction wheels or spacecraft," said S. Pete Worden, Ames center director. "The LADEE spacecraft is communicating and is very robust. The mission team has ample time to resolve this issue before the spacecraft reaches lunar orbit. We don't have to do anything in a rush."

LADEE team members are currently analyzing the situation. Normal checkout takes a couple of days, and this anomaly may add a couple more days to the process.

"This is not an unusual event in spacecraft," Worden said. "We plan in the next few days to complete spacecraft checkout."

NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), managed by NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., launched at 11:27 p.m. EDT on Sept. 6 from Pad 0B at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.


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Cite This Page:

NASA. "NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) launches, heads for the moon." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 7 September 2013. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130907090344.htm>.
NASA. (2013, September 7). NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) launches, heads for the moon. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130907090344.htm
NASA. "NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) launches, heads for the moon." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130907090344.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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