LADEE Mission Control: All stations, this is
LADEE mission on Ops. All criteria for LADEE
impact verification have been met. Operating
LADEE was the definition of a team effort and all
of you should be extremely proud of our collective
accomplishment. And so with that, Flight, you are
"Go!" to close out LADEE mission operations.
Narrator: With those words, NASA's LADEE mission
came to an end as the spacecraft spacecraft executed
a planned de-orbit into the surface of the Moon
at nearly three thousand, six hundred miles per hour.
Butler Hine: We spent all of our fuel going after
the really valuable low-altitude science,
which means you have nothing left, so you can't go back up.
And the moon's gravity field is so lumpy that
eventually, you'll wander around to a point where
you impact. It's a trade. You go as low as you
can to get the science and then, the price you pay
is eventually you have to impact.
Narrator: At every milestone, the LADEE spacecraft
and team performed well and achieved all of their
goals for the mission.
Instrument testing and data collection went
extremely well throughout the mission,
originally planned for a total of 160 days.
Efficient management of the spacecraft's fuel
resources allowed the mission to continue
collecting data into April of this year.
After descending to its final orbital altitude,
LADEE completed more than 100 orbits of the Moon
at extremely low altitude, giving the science team
a unique opportunity to collect data above the
lunar surface.
About the size of a large vending machine, LADEE
was designed and built at NASA's Ames Research
Center at Moffett Field, California.
NASA Mission Control: 2...1...zero...ignition...
(Roar of rocket engines)
NASA Mission Control: and liftoff of the
Minotaur Five with LADEE.
Narrator: Launched in September 2013 from NASA's
Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, LADEE began
orbiting the moon on October 6 and gathering
science data on November 10.
The primary goal of the mission was to collect
data about the thin lunar atmosphere and the
amounts of dust that are in it at multiple
altitudes.
Rick Elphic: At higher altitudes, we saw very few
dust particle impacts. But the lower we went
with LADEE, the more we saw. And it's a very,
very steep rise. So if you're operating
with spacecraft very close to the surface
of the moon, as you would with a robotic lander
or a human lander, you might need to consider
the fact that you've got more dust there
in the way, as you come in.
Narrator: While the spacecraft has finished its
job, the LADEE science team is busy working with
their data and hope to announce their discoveries
within the next few months.
(Electronic Sounds of Data) (Musical Tones)