Lunar
Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), the moon exploring robot of
NASA was annihilated when it impacted the surface of the moon, as planned last
weekend, the US space agency announced.
"At the
time of impact, LADEE was travelling at a speed of 3,600 miles (5,700 km) per
hour - about three times the speed of a high-powered rifle bullet," said
Rick Elphic, LADEE project scientist.
LADEE lacked
fuel to maintain a long-term lunar orbit or continue science operations and was
intentionally sent into the lunar surface.
The
spacecraft's orbit naturally decayed following the mission's final low-altitude
science phase, said NASA.
Launched in
September from Virginia, it crashed on the far side of moon as originally
planned, safely away from Apollo relics like flags, rovers, plaques and
footprints by Neil Armstrong and Aldrin between 1969 to 1972.
LADEE
crashed three days after unexpectedly surviving full lunar eclipse. No debris
is left and researchers believe that LADEE vaporised after it hit a mountain or
crater at a speed of 5,800 kph.
LADEE's
orbit was lowered to 300 feet from lunar surface for a definite crash.
"LADEE
was a mission of firsts, achieving yet another first by successfully flying
more than 100 orbits at extremely low altitudes," said Joan Salute, LADEE
program executive, at NASA headquarters in Washington.
LADEE also
hosted NASA's first dedicated system for two-way communication using laser
instead of radio waves.
In coming
months, mission controllers would determine the exact time and location of
LADEE's impact and work with the agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)
team to possibly capture an image of the impact site.
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