Back to the moon
Car-size craft to orbit 6 months, study lunar atmosphere
A Minotaur rocket blasts off from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore late Friday with a robotic explorer bound for the moon. NASA said Saturday that the spacecraft was on course, but a problem with onboard stabilization devices will have to be resolved, probably in the next few days. The LADEE probe will study the lunar atmosphere and dust.
NASA said Saturday that its new lunar probe was safe and on a perfect track for the moon, but officials acknowledged that an equipment problem that occurred soon after the LADEE spacecraft’s Friday night launch needs to be resolved in the next two to three weeks.
S. Peter Worden, director of NASA’s Ames Research Center in California, which developed the spacecraft, told reporters he’s confident everything will be working properly in the next few days.
LADEE’s reaction wheels were turned on to orient and stabilize the spacecraft, which was spinning too fast after it separated from the final rocket stage, Worden said. But the computer automatically shut the wheels down, apparently because of excess current. He speculated the wheels may have been running a little fast.
Worden stressed there is no rush to “get these bugs ironed out.”
The LADEE spacecraft, which will study the lunar atmosphere and dust, soared toward space aboard an unmanned Minotaur rocket a little before midnight from Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
“Godspeed on your journey to the moon, LADEE,” Launch Control said. Flight controllers applauded and exchanged high-fives after the successful launch. “We are headed to the moon!” NASA said in a tweet.
It was a change of venue for NASA, which normally launches moon missions from Cape Canaveral, Fla. But it provided a rare light show along the East Coast for those with clear skies.
NASA urged sky-watchers to share their launch pictures through the website Flickr, and the photos and sighting reports quickly poured in from New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, New Jersey, Rhode Island, eastern Pennsylvania and Virginia, among other places.
The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, or LADEE, is taking a roundabout path to the moon, making three huge laps around Earth before getting close enough to pop into lunar orbit.
Unlike the quick, threeday Apollo flights to the moon, LADEE will need a full month to reach Earth’s closest neighbor. An Air Force Minotaur V rocket, built by Orbital Sciences Corp., provided the ride from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.
LADEE, which is the size of a small car, is expected to reach the moon Oct. 6.
Scientists want to learn the composition of the moon’s delicate atmosphere and how it might change over time. Another puzzle, dating back decades, is whether dust levitates from the lunar surface.
The $280 million moon-orbiting mission will last six months and end with LADEE plunging into the moon.
The 844-pound spacecraft has three science instruments as well as laser communication test equipment that could revolutionize data relay.
NASA hopes to eventually replace its traditional radio systems with laser communications, which would mean faster bandwidth using significantly less power and smaller devices.
“There’s no question that as we send humans farther out into the solar system, certainly to Mars,” that laser communications will be needed to send high-definition and 3-D video, said NASA’s science mission chief, John Grunsfeld, a former astronaut who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope.
It was the first deep-space liftoff for Wallops; all of its previous launches were confined to Earth orbit.
“It was just a beautiful evening,” Grunsfeld said.
NASA chose Wallops for the LADEE launch because of the Minotaur V rocket, comprising converted intercontinental ballistic missile motors belonging to the Air Force. A U.S.-Russian treaty limits the number of launch sites because of the missile parts.
All but one of NASA’s previous moon missions since 1959, including the manned Apollo flights of the late 1960s and early 1970s, originated from Cape Canaveral. The most recent were the twin Grail spacecraft launched almost exactly two years ago. The military-NASA Clementine rocketed away from Southern California in 1994.
Wallops will be back in the spotlight in less than two weeks. The Virginia-based Orbital Sciences will make its first delivery to the International Space Station, using its own Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule. That commercial launch is scheduled for Sept. 17.