LADEE
LADEE - Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer
Presented to the
Eastern Shore Defense Alliance
February 19, 2013
NASA Wallops Flight Facility
Douglas Voss
LADEE Launch Services Manager
Range and Mission Management Office
Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA Wallops Flight Facility
LADEE
The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer
•Determine the global density,
composition, and time variability of the
fragile lunar atmosphere before it is
perturbed by further human activity.
•Determine the size, charge, and
spatial distribution of electro-statically
transported dust grains.
•Test laser communication capabilities.
•Demonstrate a low-cost lunar mission:
• Simple multi-mission modular
bus design
• Low-cost launch vehicle
Lunar Exosphere
•An exosphere’s is a tenuous,
collisionless atmosphere.
•The lunar exosphere is bounded by
the lunar surface – a surface boundary
exosphere.
•Consists of a variety of atomic and
molecular species – indicative of
conditions at the Moon (surface,
subsurface).
•Wide variety of processes contribute
to sources, variability, losses.
Lunar Dust
Building on Apollo’s experience studying the Moon’s dust.
LADEE Instruments
Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS)
UV Spectrometer (UVS)
MSL/SAM Heritage
LCROSS heritage
SMD - directed instrument
Dust and exosphere
measurements
In situ
measurement of
exospheric
species
A. Colaprete
NASA ARC
P. Mahaffy
NASA GSFC
SMD - directed instrument
150 Dalton range/unit mass resolution
Lunar Dust EXperiment (LDEX)
Lunar Laser Com Demo (LLCD)
HEOS 2, Galileo, Ulysses and Cassini Heritage
Technology demonstration
SMD - Competed instrument
High Data
Rate
Optical
Comm
D.
Boroson
MIT-LL
M. Horányi, LASP
51-622 Mbps
SOMD - directed instrument
Spacecraft Configuration
•330 kg spacecraft mass
•53 kg payload mass
LADEE -Vibration Testing
LADEE Mission Profile
•Spacecraft final processing and fueling at Wallops.
•Launches August 2013 from Wallops Flight Facility.
• First mission on the new Minotaur V.
• 2-3 phasing orbits to get to Moon.
• Insertion into retrograde orbit around Moon.
• Checkout orbit (initially 250km) for 30 days.
• 100-day science mission at ~20-75km.
Trajectory Overview
Launch Team
Science Mission Directorate - Sponsor
Ames Research Center – Mission Lead
Goddard Space Flight Center – Payloads
Wallops Flight Facility – Launch Services
USAF – Minotaur V Launch Vehicle
Minotaur V
11
Min V Pathfinder
Encapsulated
Payload/Stage 5
Roll-out and
preparation for
transport to Pad 0B
Stacking of
Payload &
Stage 5
View towards the south after gantry roll-away 12
Wallops Launch Range
13
Launch Tracking & Data
TDRSS
WFF
Coquina, NC
Bermuda
V-45/55 Complex
V-55 Fueling Facility
•Spacecraft Fueling
•Spin Balance
•Spacecraft Closeout
•Encapsulation in Min V Fairing
V-50 Control Facility
•Spin Balance Controls
•V-55 S/C Fueling Monitoring
•SCAPE Suiting
V-45 Spin Balance
•STAR-37 Spin /Bal on Gisholt 3300
•Potential Min V Stage 4 & 5 Assy.
15
15
VCSFA MARS Pad-0B
Questions
MOVIE
A Dusty Lunar Sky?
Micro-metorites as a cause of lunar dust?
A new generation of robotic lunar explorers is
revolutionizing our understanding of the Moon.
We now recognize the Moon as a dynamic world with surficial and internal
volatiles, active geology, and complex interactions with space weather. All
of these could contribute to a fascinating lunar atmospheric environment.
Lunar Atmosphere?
•Yes, but very thin! A cubic
centimeter of Earth's
atmosphere at sea level
contains about 1019
molecules. That same volume
just above the Moon's surface
contains only about 100,000
to a few million molecules.
•It glows most strongly from
atoms of sodium. However,
that is probably a minor
constituent. We still do not
know its composition.
Moon Dust under a Microscope
Note jagged edges and shining surfaces.
The latter is melted rock from micrometeorite impacts.
A Dusty Lunar Sky?
In 1968, NASA's Surveyor 7 moon lander photographed
a strange "horizon glow“ looking toward the daylight
terminator. Observations are consistent with sunlight
scattered from electrically-charged moondust floating
just above the lunar surface.
Exospheres and Dust
Surface Boundary Exospheres (SBEs)
may be the most common type of
atmosphere in the solar system…
Large
Asteroids &
KBOs
Mercury
Moon
Europa &
other Icy
satellites
Evidence of dust motion on
Eros and the Moon....
Io
Eros
Delory, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 12-16-09
Min V Pathfinder
Type 2 Transporter Arrival
Dual crane transfer lift
Stages 1-3 GTM Arrival on Commercial Haulers
An offending gate post
26
Min V Pathfinder
Peacekeeper Motor Emplacement
Stage 1 Break-over
Stage 2 Lift
Stage 3 Lift
27
Min V Pathfinder
Encapsulated
Payload/Stage 5
Roll-out and
preparation for
transport to Pad 0B
Stacking of
Payload &
Stage 5
View towards the south after gantry roll-away 28
Spin Balance
Minotaur V Launch Vehicle
Taurus 92”
Fairing
LADEE 31.1” Interface
Separation System
Payload Attachment
Fitting
Shock/Vibration
Isolation System
Minotaur IV+ 38.81”
Standard Interface
MINOTAUR IV+
Star 37 (5th Stage)
TACSAT 4 Min IV +
•
•
Launched Kodiak Launch Center 9/29/11
Mission Success
Flight Timeline
33
Stage 5
34