14 DAY TRIAL // Officials with the American space agency announce that all instruments aboard the NASA Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft have successfully completed their commissioning phase, after having passed all preliminary checks and tests.
The spacecraft launched to space from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport facility at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, in Virginia, on September 7, 2013. A Minotaur V rocket built by Orbital Sciences Corporation lifted it into its transfer orbit at 03:27 UTC. LADEE entered orbit around the Moon on October 6.
Since then, the spacecraft has conducted a significant number of tests, checks and commissioning procedures for all of its instruments, ensuring that they are functioning properly and are ready to start the scientific phase of the mission. LADEE features a suite of three scientific instruments.
The orbiter is scheduled to spend 100 days around the Moon, investigating its thin atmosphere, and trying to determine whether or not lunar dust somehow makes its way into the atmosphere. Additionally, the spacecraft will investigate anecdotal evidences of radiations appearing in the lunar night sky at some times.