Almost two weeks ago today, NASA chose to end the Ladee (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) spacecraft’s 100-day exploration of the Moon by intentionally crashing it into the Lunar surface. How we missed this story two weeks ago I will never know.
Swinburne University of Technology astronomer Dr Alan Duffy said: “this was no joy ride but rather a unique opportunity to recreate a famous observation by Apollo astronauts who saw a still unexplained mysterious glow on the horizon just before sunrise.”
Ladee has compiled a huge amount of data and taught us a lot about the Moon’s thin atmosphere already but it also tested out a new laser broadband link from earth to the moon. If that wasn’t cool enough NASA said the results were that good that you could stream a Netflix movie on the moon just like you can on earth!
Unfortunately, after its successful 100-day mission its fuel had run out. ”By intentionally crashing into the far side of the Moon we can preserve the historical Apollo mission landing sites from disturbance,” Dr Duffy said.
Future Martians – people who will live on the moon, not aliens – can try hard to find a piece of the wreckage for a souvenir but NASA said there probably wouldn’t be anything left of the craft considering it hit the dirt at 5670km an hour, there would be a crater but not much else.
We salute you LADEE
Stay Curious – C.Costigan
For more information about Ladee visit the NASA page.
