LADEE-NASA Moon Mission, Sep. 6/7

[Kryten]

LADEE, NASA's latest and currently last planned Lunar probe, is currently sitting on the pad in preparation for launch tomorrow night/the morning after (depending on your location).

LADEE is a relatively small probe intended to answer lingering questions about the Moon's atmosphere (what there is of it). NASA give a better overview of it than I could;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XyW5QiqftYE

The launcher for the mission is a former Peacekeeper ICBM, converted with a couple of small extra stages into the first (and very possibly last) Minotaur V rocket. Coverage will be available from NASA TV, and possibly also from Orbital Sciences, the producer of the launcher. Those of you in parts of the US may be able to see the launch first-hand, as it'll be visible up a good bit of the east coast; for further details, see here.

Edited September 5, 2013 by Kryten

[Kerbal01]

I will be watching this, if i can.

[Mr Shifty]

Fascinating information about its launch, trans-lunar, lunar insertion, and mission trajectories here:

http://www.spaceflight101.com/ladee-mission-and-trajectory-design.html

Lots of orbital mechanics!

EDIT: This is a solid booster launch, at night. Best conditions possible for viewing. There's a bunch of detail about how you can go to Wallops to view the launch if you're in the area here:

http://esc.gsfc.nasa.gov/267/278/279/468.html

And here's a schedule of broadcasts on NASA TV:

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=28459.msg1092331#msg1092331

Edited September 5, 2013 by Mr Shifty

[nettcod]

I'll (hopefully) be watching the live launch footage tomorrow night.

Edited September 6, 2013 by nettcod

[Omicron314]

That rocket has an awful lot of logos. An American flag, TASC, NASA, Orbital Sciences Corporation, ASP, and a few others I don't recognize or can't make out. Well, here's to hoping the launch goes according to plan.

[Motokid600]

This is great I'm in south Jersey ill be able to see it.

[Gojira]

It's most likely to launch on my birthday (the sixth!)

[Kryten]

Well, launch time is set for 03:27 GMT on the seventh; you should be able to use that to get a time and date in your own timezone. Where I am, it's half four in the morning...

[Kerbal01]

Dang it! That's 11 PM for me(CST)

[PakledHostage]

Dang it! That's 11 PM for me(CST)

Who knew Darth Vader was a stubblejumper?

For the benefit of those who don't live in Saskatchewan, I've converted the launch time that Kryten gave for the rest of North America:

PDT - 20:27

MDT - 21:27

MST - 20:27

CDT - 22:27

CST - 21:27

EDT - 23:27

ADT - 00:27

NDT - 00:57

Edited September 6, 2013 by PakledHostage

[Kerbal01]

Stubble jumper?

[PakledHostage]

Sorry, teasing my compatriots from Saskatchewan who stay on standard time all year (CST), rather than switching to daylight savings time in the summer.

[rpayne88]

Concerning the LV: Did I understand that correctly? Five (5) solid fuel stages? Where the LV designers playing KSP or did Jeb come up with this?

[Mr Shifty]

Who knew Darth Vader was a stubblejumper?

For the benefit of those who don't live in Saskatchewan, I've converted the launch time that Kryten gave for the rest of North America:

PDT - 20:27

MDT - 21:27

MST - 20:27

CDT - 22:27

CST - 21:27

EDT - 23:27

ADT - 00:27

NDT - 00:57

Corrections to this:

Launch is at 21:27 PDT (California time). It's at 20:27 PST, but I don't know of any significant locations that use PST in the summer. EDIT: It's also at 22:27 MDT (all the mountain states except Arizona) and 21:27 MST (Arizona).

EDIT: Geordi's original post was correct; please ignore this one.

Edited September 6, 2013 by Mr Shifty

[PakledHostage]

Corrections to this:

Launch is at 21:27 PDT (California time). It's at 20:27 PST, but I don't know of any significant locations that use PST in the summer. EDIT: It's also at 22:27 MDT (all the mountain states except Arizona) and 21:27 MST (Arizona).

I was trying to be helpful rather than take this thread off topic, but I am certain that PDT is 7 hours behind GMT while PST is 8 hours behind GMT. Kryten gave the launch time as 03:27 GMT. 7 hours before 03:27 is 20:27, isn't it? It has been along day though...

[Mr Shifty]

I was trying to be helpful rather than take this thread off topic, but I am certain that PDT is 7 hours behind GMT while PST is 8 hours behind GMT. Kryten gave the launch time as 03:27 GMT. 7 hours before 03:27 is 20:27, isn't it? It has been along day though...

Argh. You are, of course, right. (Shouldn't argue timezones with the guy who made the GPSS add-on.) I had it in my head all week that the launch was at 9:30 for me.

[Jackissimus]

Fascinating information about its launch, trans-lunar, lunar insertion, and mission trajectories here:

http://www.spaceflight101.com/ladee-mission-and-trajectory-design.html

Lots of orbital mechanics!

Lol, is it just me, or was this article written by someone playing ksp? It feels weird to understand everything in the article... great link though!

They are aiming for a very low lunar orbit. Any idea why they don't use one of the frozen orbits?

Also, the article states that the final translunar phasing trajectory will be a hyperbolic trajectory. Is that an Earth escape trajectory? Isnt that wasting fuel? Or do they just mean it's an elliptical trajectory, the probe will just never return to Earth.

[Mr Shifty]

They are aiming for a very low lunar orbit. Any idea why they don't use one of the frozen orbits?

Great question! I have no idea. I'll have to ask over at the NSF forums.

Also, the article states that the final translunar phasing trajectory will be a hyperbolic trajectory. Is that an Earth escape trajectory? Isnt that wasting fuel? Or do they just mean it's an elliptical trajectory, the probe will just never return to Earth.

I think it means hyberbolic with respect to the moon.

[cypher_00]

They want to study if it is lunar dust that caused the glow Appolo astronauts saw on the horizon when they where on the moon. That's why the orbit is low.

Edit: Also it is the first in space test of laser communication. Pretty cool.

Edited September 6, 2013 by cypher_00

[Mr Shifty]

They are aiming for a very low lunar orbit. Any idea why they don't use one of the frozen orbits?

Great question! I have no idea. I'll have to ask over at the NSF forums.

Response from the NSF forums pointed me to this paper, which explicitly states that mission requirements exclude the use of frozen orbits because they need low-inclination terminator crossings:

http://www.applieddefense.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/2011-Craychee-Design_Method_For_Low_Altitude_Lunar_Orbits.pdf

[Kerbal01]

I also read the article and I had a question: it says that the trajectory it will use has the moons gravity raise the periapsis of the orbit, shouldn't this be the apoapsis of the orbit instead?

[Motokid600]

I'm confused. Im on the east coast so is this rocket launching tonight at 11:30 or tomorrow? Everything I read is saying something different.

[Kryten]

11:30 tonight yeah, assuming you mean EDT.

[metaphor]

It's scheduled for launch at 11:27 PM on Friday night (tonight). http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ladee/main/index.html#.UipI0zaURqA

[Jackissimus]

I also read the article and I had a question: it says that the trajectory it will use has the moons gravity raise the periapsis of the orbit, shouldn't this be the apoapsis of the orbit instead?

I read that too, I think it is a mistake. At another point the article talks about perigee when it should really be periselene.