The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer Mission

• DOI: 10.1007/s11214-014-0113-z
• Publication Date: 2014-11-14T17:19:36Z
• Authors: R. C. Elphic; G. T. Delory; Butler P. Hine; P. R. Mahaffy; M. Horanyi; A. Colaprete; M. Benna; S. K. Noble
• Keywords: Launched; Planetary science; Space environment; Scientific instrument; Spaceflight

The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission was designed to address long-standing scientific questions about the Moon’s environment, including the assessment of the composition of the lunar atmosphere, and characterization of the lunar dust environment at low orbital altitudes. LADEE was derived from the Modular Common Spacecraft Bus design that was developed at NASA Ames Research Center; it used modularized subassemblies and existing commercial spaceflight hardware to reduce cost. LADEE was launched on the very first Minotaur V, and was also the first deep space mission launched from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. LADEE was equipped with two in situ instruments and a remote sensing instrument to address the atmosphere and dust measurement requirements. LADEE also carried the first deep-space optical communications demonstration, the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration. LADEE was launched in early September, 2013, took science data for over 140 days in low lunar orbit, and impacted the surface on April 18, 2014.