Final Preparations Underway for Launch of NASA Probe Headed to the Moon

Final preparations are currently underway for the launch of NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE).

Scheduled to launch just before midnight on Friday from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, the car-sized probe will orbit the Moon in an effort to collect the most detailed data to date on the structure and composition of the Moon's thin atmosphere. Among the questions scientists hope to answer through this mission is whether dust is being lofted into the lunar sky.

The answers, scientists say, could offer new insight not only into the Moon, but other space bodies as well, including large asteroids, Mercury and moons orbiting other planets.

"The moon's tenuous atmosphere may be more common in the solar system than we thought," John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science in Washington, said in a statement.

Comprised of a ligthweight carbon composite, LADEE was built using the Modular Common Spacecraft Bus architecture developed by Ames Research Center. When fueled, the probe weighs nearly 850 pounds.

"This mission will put the common bus design to the test," Ames Director S. Pete Worden said. "This same common bus can be used on future missions to explore other destinations, including voyages to orbit and land on the moon, low-Earth orbit, and near-Earth objects."

The design marks a step toward reusable spacecraft developed using an assembly-line model, rather than custom designs for each probe and lander NASA produces.

"The LADEE mission demonstrates how it is possible to build a first class spacecraft at a reduced cost while using a more efficient manufacturing and assembly process," Butler Hine, LADEE project manager at Ames, said.

Roughly a month from its launch, LADEE will begin its 40-day commissioning phase, at which point it will transition into a 100-day science phase. It is during this latter stage that the probe will collect data, including samples of any atmospheric lunar particles it may find.