LADEE arrives at the moon for lunar science mission

[jakeXT]

The modest Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer spacecraft, measuring about 7.7 feet tall and 4.7 feet in diameter, fired its liquid-fueled engine at 1057 GMT (6:57 a.m. EDT) for four minutes, allowing the moon's gravity to capture it into a high-altitude orbit over the equator.

Controllers based at NASA's Ames Research Center in California - kept operating despite the partial shutdown of the federal government - oversaw the critical maneuver.


...

Once LADEE reaches the 155-mile-high orbit Oct. 12, ground teams will begin commissioning the probe's three science instruments, deploy aperture covers from the sensors, and activate the spacecraft's laser communications package for a 30-day demonstration of high-speed optical communications.

The Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration aboard LADEE will link up with ground stations in New Mexico, California and the Canary Islands, exchanging data packets at speeds unattainable with radio communications systems.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/minotaur/ladee/131006loi/#.UlHOnBBDBAE

[MisterP]

1. so--it's a Frau um Mond?