mick silver
19th April 2014, 05:03 PM
NASA just crashed a satellite into the moon on purposeBY DANIEL COOPER (http://www.engadget.com/about/editors/daniel-cooper/) @DANIELWCOOPER (http://twitter.com/danielwcooper) APRIL 18TH 2014, AT 9:45:00 AM ET 102 (http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/18/nasa-ladee-crashes-into-moon-on-purpose/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000589#comments)
http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/7553eca50b5027fb68b7ae288e48c644/200046229/ladee.jpg (http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/18/nasa-ladee-crashes-into-moon-on-purpose/)
You might remember NASA's LADEE as the satellite where the administration tested a newbroadband-fast (http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/24/nasa-llcd-data-transmission-record/)laser communication system (http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/15/nasa-readies-first-laser-communications-system/) for sending data back to Earth. Now, however, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/07/alt-week-09-07-13/) is no more, since NASA (http://www.engadget.com/tag/NASA/)just crashed the craft into the surface of the Moon. Unfortunately, the vehicle didn't have the power to maintain its orbit, so the bods in Florida decided to send the hardware on a one-way trip. On the upside, the satellite managed to grab some super-detailed scans of the lunar surface before burning up, and it probably looked really cool when it exploded, which probably justifies the wanton destruction of a multi-million dollar spacecraft.
http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/7553eca50b5027fb68b7ae288e48c644/200046229/ladee.jpg (http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/18/nasa-ladee-crashes-into-moon-on-purpose/)
You might remember NASA's LADEE as the satellite where the administration tested a newbroadband-fast (http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/24/nasa-llcd-data-transmission-record/)laser communication system (http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/15/nasa-readies-first-laser-communications-system/) for sending data back to Earth. Now, however, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/07/alt-week-09-07-13/) is no more, since NASA (http://www.engadget.com/tag/NASA/)just crashed the craft into the surface of the Moon. Unfortunately, the vehicle didn't have the power to maintain its orbit, so the bods in Florida decided to send the hardware on a one-way trip. On the upside, the satellite managed to grab some super-detailed scans of the lunar surface before burning up, and it probably looked really cool when it exploded, which probably justifies the wanton destruction of a multi-million dollar spacecraft.