LADEE-NASA Moon Mission, Sep. 6/7

[Bunsen]

And to think that when its done, it will just crash into the surface and be destroyed...

All they would have to do is add a small extra tank at the bottom of the craft, and they would be able to de-orbit the craft safely on the moon. Then, the next time humans went to the moon, they could bring parts back and maybe repurpose it. Or even have it still run its instruments while landed on the surface. Thats what all those solar panels are for right?!?

I understand the astronomical costs of sending just a pound of extra stuff into space, but it just seems like a waste to have it crash after the tests are complete.

It would take a rather large amount of fuel to achieve a soft landing. The thing has about 180 m/s of delta-v left on board once it gets into lunar orbit; landing on the Moon requires decelerating from almost 1700 m/s to zero, plus extra to cover gravity losses during the burn. It would also require a larger engine, since its current engine would barely give it a 1:1 TWR on the Moon. With the additional structure, beefed up attitude control to slew the extra mass around, etc., it would probably more than double the spacecraft mass.

[MinerEdgar]

I just got back from Nasa Ames research center. There was a event their with tents and food trucks and a large screen showing the Nasa TV feed of the launch. And i got wooden airplane. On the way back ,on the Highway, I held the plane out an open window. It was like a Cessna at Mach 2, then the entire front halve and wing assembly ripped off. It was awesome.

[tizalee]

NASA again creating history. This time hopefully something big will be invented. NASA doing the good causes for mankind. Keep the good work up.

[Motokid600]

2.5 TWR ratio was it? Took off like a bottle rocket. Amazing launch. I was waiting for "ignition start" but no just BOOM im gone.. lol. I live in Berlin, NJ and I gotta say again that I was floored. I heard the faint rumble and saw the tail of the exhaust as clear as day. And the stage separation was even better. I saw the flare up of the engines.. the mach effects..everything. I will never forget this. Im going to see this in person next launch. My friend took a short video ill post it later if I can. Its bed time..

[Mr Shifty]

Missed watching the launch live due to my monthly bike ride to Tijuana, but it looks like it went like gangbusters. Congrats NASA! Go LADEE!

[sidew]

For non americans or who missed the launch:

[ajshell1]

I saw the launch yesterday.

It was simply amazing.

After it got out of sight, I had the best stargazing night I ever had.

[B787_300]

that rocket got off the pad FAST... thats what you get when you are using an ICBM as the main stage...

[Sma]

It usually takes 3-4 days to get to the moon, but for this one I think they said it will take 60 days.

I'm sure those who want to know have found out, or looked it up by now, but yeah, I think it's basically going to take 3-4 days or so to get to the edge of Earths SOI/Lunar SOI, but much longer ( I thought I heard/read 90days? maybe) to get into it's final orbit where it will do science (it'll do science all night long..........). This I'd imagine is due to the tiny amount of fuel it was designed to have during it's mission. As well as for cost savings I guess. Part of why they used an ICBM I'd imagine. One thing I wonder though, is if this minitar was an already made rocket that at one time had a nuke payload, if it was one that was just "laying around" or if they actually built a new one. I don't really see them building a new one though.

[Kerbal01]

It was from parts decommissioned in a START treaty.

[Mr Shifty]

I'm sure those who want to know have found out, or looked it up by now, but yeah, I think it's basically going to take 3-4 days or so to get to the edge of Earths SOI/Lunar SOI, but much longer ( I thought I heard/read 90days? maybe) to get into it's final orbit where it will do science (it'll do science all night long..........).

LADEE is currently descending toward Earth from its initial apogee of about 170,000 miles. It's currently (9/11/13 2000UTC) about 146,000 miles from Earth.

- It'll reach perigee again (~1500 miles) in a couple days: 9/13/13 1300 UTC

- Then it will ascend to a higher apogee of 201,000 miles, reaching it on around 9/17 2000UTC.

- Perigee again (950 miles) on 9/21 1330UTC

- Apogee (234,000 miles) on 9/26 1300UTC

- Final perigee (1000 miles) on 10/1 1200UTC (fly-by speed: 22,000 mph)

- Lunar SOI entry: 10/5 at 1700UTC

- First perilune (370 miles): 10/6 at 1020UTC

[Mistake Not…]

Latest news from the LADEE launch - a small, green figure was seen leaping from the rocket. No space for you tonight, Jebediah Kerman. Not tonight.

(Great photo of the launch, with an inexplicable frog jumping for dear life!)

[cypher_00]

Hehe I just posted that same picture in the LADEE thread on the General Forum.

[Kryten]

LADEE entered lunar orbit earlier today. Yes, nearly a month after launch.

[B787_300]

yep the we are not going to waste that much fuel method of orbital mechanics, Im just happy that the Shutdown didnt affect it too much

[MadHorse]

Update

Oct. 17, 2013: During the NASA shutdown, the LADEE mission continued to perform its critical maneuvers and capture into the commissioning orbit around the moon. The trajectory correction maneuver (TCM-1) was completed on Oct. 1, and set the spacecraft to rendezvous with the moon on Oct. 6. The Neutral mass Spectrometer (NMS) cap ejection on Oct. 3 was successful. The first Lunar Orbit Insertion maneuver (LOI-1) on Oct. 6 was very accurate, and required no course adjustments afterward. This is impressive performance of the propulsion system, given the size of the LOI-1 burn. This maneuver put the spacecraft in a 24-hour elliptical lunar orbit. The LOI-2 maneuver on Oct. 9 also was very accurate, putting LADEE into a 4-hour elliptic lunar orbit. The third and final LOI-3 burn occurred on Oct. 12, and put the spacecraft into the 2-hour commissioning orbit (roughly 235 Km x 250 Km). The LADEE spacecraft commissioning activities are now complete, and the instrument commissioning activities have begun. The LDEX and UVS aliveness activities were completed successfully on Oct. 16, with both instrument covers deployed. These instrument cover deployments were the last remaining planned critical events for the mission. All critical maneuvers and all instrument cover deployments are completed at this point. The science instrument commissioning and lasercom primary experiment will be conducted through mid-Nov., at which point the spacecraft will start to drop down to the lower lunar science orbit.

Source: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ladee/main/index.html