Using the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA hopes to obtain a photo of the impact site.
According to a statement released by NASA, the space agency's vending-machine-size spacecraft, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), has crashed into the lunar surface (don't worry, this was part of NASA's plan for the probe).
The space agency had no choice but to allow LADEE to smash into the moon. The spacecraft lacked the fuel to maintain a long-term lunar orbit. According to NASA, LADEE's orbit naturally fell apart following the mission's last low-altitude science phase.
When LADEE slammed into the moon and broke apart, NASA says that the spacecraft's material likely vaporized or heated up several hundred degrees. Any material that remained is probably hidden in shallow craters on the lunar surface.
"At the time of impact, LADEE was traveling at a speed of 3,600 miles per hour – about three times the speed of a high-powered rifle bullet," explained Rick Elphic, LADEE project scientist at Ames. "There's nothing gentle about impact at these speeds – it's just a question of whether LADEE made a localized craterlet on a hillside or scattered debris across a flat area. It will be interesting to see what kind of feature LADEE has created."
Although NASA knows that LADEE impacted the moon between 9:30 and 10:22 pm PDT Thursday, Apr. 17, scientists will work to identify the exact time and location of the spacecraft's impact. Using the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the space agency also hopes to obtain a photo of the impact site.
Image Credit: NASA Ames/Dana Berry
Source : http://www.statecolumn.com/2014/04/vending-machine-size-spacecraft-likely-vaporized-on-impact-with-lunar-surface/
