NASA launches robotic explorer
to moon Last updated: 6 hours ago US space agency sends
unmanned robotic explorer to
study lunar atmosphere and
dust as part of its new $280m
mission. An unmanned rocket has
blasted off from NASA's
Wallops Flight Facility in
Virginia in the US, with a
robotic explorer on a mission
to investigate the moon dust and atmosphere. Called The Lunar Atmosphere
and Dust Environment Explorer,
or LADEE, the moon-orbiting
craft will measure the thin
lunar atmosphere. Scientists want to learn the
composition of the moon's
ever-so-delicate atmosphere
and how it might change over
time and whether dust actually
levitates from the lunar surface. Unlike the quick three-day
Apollo flights to the moon, the
LADEE will take a full month to
get there. The six-month
mission costs $280m. It will orbit Earth's closest
neighbour for a few months,
analysing the ever-so-delicate
atmosphere and lunar dust. An Air Force Minotaur rocket,
built by Orbital Sciences Corp.,
is providing the ride. This will be the first moonshot
from Virginia. All but one of
NASA's approximately 40 moon
missions, including the manned
Apollo flights of the late 1960s
and early 1970s, originated from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The most recent were the twin
Grail spacecraft launched two
years ago. The lone exception,
Clementine, a military-NASA
venture, rocketed away from
Southern California in 1994. The soaring Minotaur rocket
should be visible along much of
the East Coast as far south as
South Carolina, as far north as
Maine and as far west as
Pittsburgh. The mission will last six months
and end with a suicide plunge
into the moon for LADEE, which
is about the size of a small car. Africa Asia-Pacific Central & S. Asia In Depth Progr