Barnstorming the Moon: Adventures of the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer

The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) was launched on September 6th   2013 aboard the very first Minotaur V, an ICBM converted for civilian use. LADEE entered lunar orbit one month later on October 6th. In the following weeks, the first laser communications from deep space achieved download link speeds sufficient for broadband video.

Following instrument checkouts, LADEE began science operations on November 21st, 2013.

Over the next 100 days LADEE's two spectrometers systematically mapped argon, helium, and discovered neon in the lunar exosphere. Simultaneously, the Lunar Dust EXperiment (LDEX) discovered and characterized the dust exosphere, caused by the continual bombardment of the Moon's surface by micrometeoroids. After the nominal science mission ended on March 1st, 2014, LADEE continued to acquire data. This talk will describe the mission and some of the very interesting and recent science results.

Speaker: Dr. Richard Elphic, LADEE Mission