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LADEE Probe Ends Its Mission On the Far Side Of the Moon

Posted by timothy on from the in-lieu-of-flowers dept.

The mission of NASA's LADEE probe was brought to an intentional violent end yesterday, when it smashed into the far side of the moon. As the Ars Technica report explains, "NASA's policy is to treat the locations of the Moon landings as historical sites, and it takes pains to preserve them from possible damage. LADEE didn't have the fuel to control its orbit indefinitely. As a result, the controllers had been preparing to terminate the probe for several weeks. ... The exact moment of impact isn't clear, since the precise terrain it hit couldn't be determined in advance. (If it hit a ridge, it would have happened earlier than if LADEE plowed across a plain. What is clear is that the impact destroyed the probe." Before the end of LADEE's mission, besides close up observations, the craft was used to test a new laser-based communication system.

25 comments

  1. Allahu Ackbar! by hessian · · Score: 5, Funny

    The real question is whether or not the probe screamed "Allahu Ackbar!" at the moment of the crash.

    If it did, it goes to Heaven where it will be surrounded by 72 vintage Apple 6502 machines.

    --
    Futurist Traditionalism
    1. Re:Allahu Ackbar! by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      "Allahu Ackbar!"

      I see what you did there, Mr. Space Muslim...

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re:Allahu Ackbar! by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      Just being vintage doesn't mean they're New Old Stock.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    3. Re:Allahu Ackbar! by Muad'Dave · · Score: 1

      Sounds like the characters in "Pitch Black".

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
  2. Space Muslims reporting for duty, sir. by hessian · · Score: 2

    "Space Muslim" sounds like an ill-conceived spinoff of "Space Moose."

    Either way, you've found me out. It's my covert goal to bring Sharia Law(tm) to the Moon.

    --
    Futurist Traditionalism
  3. Obligatory by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

    Obligatory xkcd (http://xkcd.com/859/

  4. Probes only, no humans allowed by ArcadeMan · · Score: 2

    There's a reason we never went back to the moon.

    --
    Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
  5. Benefit of laser communication. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Best part of last communication is that its from point A to point B
    a 3rd party at point C cant listen in to the communication

  6. Sharia? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I LOVED that song by the Knack!

    Muh, muh,muh muh,muh My ..eye...eye.....eye Sharia - Whoo!

  7. Video? by Skiron · · Score: 1

    It was done in the 60's - so why no video now? http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa...

    1. Re:Video? by VortexCortex · · Score: 1

      It was done in the 60's - so why no video now?

      Uh, no. No one could have even discovered the dark side of the moon until the early 70's. There wasn't any video either, but there have been several attempts to reconstruct what it might have been like on a stage.

    2. Re:Video? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only Ranger craft to land on the far side of the moon was Ranger 4 impacting due to the craft failing and not being able to return video or course correct to its intended landing place. The video from Ranger crafts was from the three than landed on the near side of the moon. Video and images from the far side requires line of sight communication, so either another probe to relay the information or a probe that is in orbit and can send the information after it comes back around.

  8. terrain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "...since the precise terrain it hit couldn't be determined in advance."

    I believe the correct word is 'moonain'.

    1. Re:terrain by metaforest · · Score: 1

      "...since the precise terrain it hit couldn't be determined in advance."

      I believe the correct word is 'moonain'.

      bzzzt

      Terra is the latin name for Earth... thus terrain.
      Luna is the latin name for Moon...
      Therefore 'Lunain' would be the contextually correct word.

      Thanks for playing though.

  9. We were present at the launch.. by toonces33 · · Score: 1

    Well - we were about 8 miles from the pad, but that was about as close as they would let the public go. But it seems like it was such a long time ago...

  10. Far Side... (Sqore:200, Insiteful) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    The headline was supposed to read "Dark Side of the Moon", but Floyd
    threatened to sue; Far Side has a far weaker legal team, it appears...

    CAP = 'paralyze'

    1. Re:Far Side... (Sqore:200, Insiteful) by gmhowell · · Score: 1

      The headline was supposed to read "Dark Side of the Moon", but Floyd
      threatened to sue; Far Side has a far weaker legal team, it appears...

      CAP = 'paralyze'

      Gary Larson disagrees.

      --
      Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
    2. Re:Far Side... (Sqore:200, Insiteful) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yet another gmhowell 1 line fart of a reply!

  11. Correction to summary: impact was on near-side by craighansen · · Score: 2

    I have it on good authority that the LADEE Probe did not impact on the far-side of the moon, though that's what was intended (for reasons of safety to historical sites). According to team member, it actually impacted on the near-side, close to the end of it's traversal of the near side and close to the near-side-far-side boundary (and because it was a full moon, near the terminus, which is the "day/night" boundary). Because it was close to the end of the near-side traversal, they waited until it would have returned to the near-side after the far-side traversal to "officially" call it.

    1. Re:Correction to summary: impact was on near-side by lissnup · · Score: 1

      So it crashed in no-man's land as far moon sides go?

  12. I've heard of lithobraking by linear+a · · Score: 1

    But caseusbraking?

  13. Been there . . . by Pumpkin+Tuna · · Score: 1

    I can vouch for the ridge vs. plain thing. In Kerbal Space Program some of my awesome, ridiculously low Munar orbits sometimes fail to take those ridges into consideration. Ouch. Sorry Jeb.

  14. What I don't understand is . . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why did they Have to destroy it? Couldn't they have just left it circling the moon in orbit? It's not like it's a high traffic area. There is no atmosphere so keeping the same orbit should not have been a problem. Since it works on solar, wouldn't it have been useful to have up there to take pictures. . . . just in case it was needed? Ever since I heard of it, this thing does not quite make sense.

    1. Re:What I don't understand is . . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The moon isn't a perfect sphere, and things like mountains can perturb orbits, especially low orbits like LADEE's. There are also other things like sunlight.

  15. LADEE probe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've probed a few LADEEs in my time...