The spacecraft “Ladee” was successfully launched to the moon. The unmanned aircraft, which is about as big as a small car, picked up on the night of Saturday aboard a Minotaur V rocket from a spaceport in the U.S. state of Virginia on how the space agency Nasa announced.
Shortly after the start, “Ladee” (“Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer”) separated from the rocket and is now about 30 days traveling to the atmosphere of the moon. The probe is to collect data on these very thin atmosphere and look, among other things to water molecules.
The launch of “Ladee” was broadcast live on the Internet and among other things on a screen at New York’s Times Square. The tail light in the sky was also shown to the metropolis. The start of the 250 million dollars (about 190 million euros) expensive mission had been expected by experts with tension because both the space station in a Nasa branch on Wallops Iceland, an island off the east coast of Virginia, and the launcher never had been used for space missions. The rocket had the private company Orbital supplied, the last was responsible for two false starts.
The probe is first about a month check the operation of their equipment and then collect data about 100 days in the lunar atmosphere. Among other things, they will explore how ice could occur at the poles of the moon. Then shall “Ladee” smash on the celestial body.
The data collected by the probe could be used for a manned lunar flight is extremely helpful – not only is the currently planned by NASA. “Ladee” is the third lunar mission in five years, but also the first final currently envisaged.
it continues with the exploration of the Moon NASA, is currently unclear. The Authority intends to focus on in the future to capture an asteroid and manned missions to Mars and has initially banned plans for manned lunar missions also under pressure from the Obama administration back in the drawer.
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