12 Facts About LADEE

LADEE was announced during the presentation of NASA's FY09 budget in February 2008.

Data from LADEE was used to track the distribution and eventual dissipation of the exhaust and dust in the Moon's exosphere.

LADEE mission was designed to address three major science goals:.

LADEE took an unusual approach in its transit of the Moon.

LADEE spacecraft made three "phasing orbits" of Earth before it accomplished a Lunar orbit insertion, which occurred at perigee of the third orbit using a three-minute engine burn.

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Engineers did not expect LADEE to survive, as it was not designed to handle such an environment, but it exited the eclipse with only a few pressure sensor malfunctions.

LADEE is the first spacecraft designed, integrated, built, and tested by NASA's Ames Research Center.

LADEE mission makes use of the Modular Common Spacecraft Bus, or body, made of a lightweight carbon composite with an unfueled mass of 248.

LADEE carried three scientific instruments and a technology demonstration payload.

LADEE carried a technology demonstration payload for testing an optical communication system.

Team for LADEE included contributors from NASA Headquarters, Washington D C, NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

LADEE mounted on the vibration table prior to the start of vibration testing in January 2013.