LADEE Probe Ends Its Mission On the Far Side Of the Moon 25
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.
Allahu Ackbar! (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.
Re: (Score:2)
"Allahu Ackbar!"
I see what you did there, Mr. Space Muslim...
Space Muslims reporting for duty, sir. (Score:2)
"Space Muslim" sounds like an ill-conceived spinoff of "Space Moose." [hackcanada.com]
Either way, you've found me out. It's my covert goal to bring Sharia Law(tm) to the Moon.
Sharia? (Score:1)
I LOVED that song by the Knack!
Muh, muh,muh muh,muh My ..eye...eye.....eye Sharia - Whoo!
Re: (Score:2)
Sounds like the characters in "Pitch Black".
Re: (Score:2)
Just being vintage doesn't mean they're New Old Stock.
Obligatory (Score:1)
Probes only, no humans allowed (Score:3)
There's a reason we never went back to the moon. [wikipedia.org]
Benefit of laser communication. (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
Video? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
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. [vimeo.com]
terrain (Score:1)
"...since the precise terrain it hit couldn't be determined in advance."
I believe the correct word is 'moonain'.
Re: (Score:2)
"...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.
We were present at the launch.. (Score:2)
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...
Far Side... (Sqore:200, Insiteful) (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'
Re: (Score:2)
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.
Correction to summary: impact was on near-side (Score:3)
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.
Re: (Score:1)
I've heard of lithobraking (Score:1)
Been there . . . (Score:2)
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.