Post by cenydd on Sept 7, 2013 16:52:35 GMT
An unmanned Nasa explorer has blasted into space to collect detailed information on the Moon’s atmosphere and its surface conditions.
Scientists say they want to unmask the mystery surrounding the Moon’s thin atmosphere in addition to what it is that causes a glow on its horizon.
The six-month mission will see a robotic Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) orbit the Moon and also hopes to give Nasa engineers more understanding of ‘environmental influences on lunar dust’.
It launched from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to a cacophony of cheers from onlookers, who were eagerly looking up to watch it disappear.
This was a marked change of procedure for Nasa, which has launched all but one of its Moon missions from a different site in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
It will take 30 days for the explorer to reach its destination because it needs to take three laps around Earth before getting close enough to enter its lunar orbit.
Scientists say they want to unmask the mystery surrounding the Moon’s thin atmosphere in addition to what it is that causes a glow on its horizon.
The six-month mission will see a robotic Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) orbit the Moon and also hopes to give Nasa engineers more understanding of ‘environmental influences on lunar dust’.
It launched from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to a cacophony of cheers from onlookers, who were eagerly looking up to watch it disappear.
This was a marked change of procedure for Nasa, which has launched all but one of its Moon missions from a different site in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
It will take 30 days for the explorer to reach its destination because it needs to take three laps around Earth before getting close enough to enter its lunar orbit.
metro.co.uk/2013/09/07/nasas-latest-mission-ladee-torpedoes-into-space-to-dispel-moons-mysteries-3953629/
Interesting to see a Moon exploration mission - perhaps eventually we will get to see another with people on board!
