Fwd: LRO captures fleeting view of LADEE

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: January 30, 2014 8:28:34 AM CST
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: LRO captures fleeting view of LADEE

 

 

NASA moon mission captures fleeting view of sister craft
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
January 29, 2014

Coupling a fortuitous orbital alignment with meticulous planning, a camera aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter caught a smeared glimpse of another moon probe in an image released Wednesday.

NASA's LADEE spacecraft is seen in this geometrically corrected image from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter taken on Jan. 14, U.S. time. Photo credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
 
LRO and the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, or LADEE, mission are NASA's two probes currently flying around the moon. The two satellites fly in different orbits and only occasionally pass near each other.

But scientists in charge of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera calculated how to record a view of LADEE on Jan. 14 as the two probes traveled at near-perpendicular angles more than 20 miles over the moon's tortured surface.

"Since LROC is a pushbroom imager, it builds up an image one line at a time, thus catching a target as small and fast as LADEE is tricky! Both spacecraft are orbiting the moon with velocities near 1600 meters per second (3600 mph), so timing and pointing of LRO needs to be nearly perfect to capture LADEE in an LROC image," wrote Mark Robinson, LROC's principal investigator at Arizona State University in Tempe.

During the Jan. 14 encounter, controllers commanded LRO to roll 34 degrees to the west to line up the spacecraft's narrow-angle camera with LADEE's expected position on its flight path. LRO's imager was designed to snap sharp pictures of the moon, not fast-moving nearby spacecraft, so the initial result showed LADEE as a smeared streak backdropped by a clear landscape of lunar craters.

A comparison of LADEE's image from the LRO camera with an artist's concept. The labels on the artist's concept are matched to the resolution of LRO's narrow-angle camera. See a larger version. Photo credit: NASA/GSFC/Ames/Arizona State University
 
Scientists used a technique known as geometric correction to sharpen the view of LADEE, but the spacecraft is still blurry. The corrected image also had the result of smearing the lunar landscape in the background.

"Despite the blur it is possible to find details of the spacecraft, which is about 1 meter wide and 2 meters long. You can see the engine nozzle, bright solar panel, and perhaps a star tracker camera (especially if you have a correctly oriented schematic diagram of LADEE for comparison)," Robinson wrote.

LRO launched in June 2009 to map the lunar surface and complete a geological survey of the moon, revealing new insights into how the moon formed and evolved, creating a global lunar atlas, and helping scientists find deposits of watery compounds.

Since arriving in lunar orbit in October, LADEE achieved the first high-speed laser communications link-up between the moon and Earth and is now collecting data on the moon's tenuous atmosphere.

LRO and LADEE were joined at the moon in December by China's Chang'e 3 lander, which deployed a small mobile rover. LRO's camera has already imaged the Chinese probe on the lunar surface.  

 

© 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.

 

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NASA Moon Probe Spotted by Robotic Lunar Sibling (Photos)

By Miriam Kramer, Staff Writer   |   January 30, 2014 07:00am ET

This NASA photo of the LADEE moon orbiter as seen by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter identifies key parts of the LADEE spacecraft (geometrically corrected). Image released Jan. 29, 2014. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University View full size image

In a moment of lunar synchronicity, a moon-orbiting NASA probe spied another one of the space agency's spacecraft from its spot in orbit.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter caught sight of NASA's LADEE moon dust probe as both spacecraft sped around the moon at nearly 3,600 mph (1,600 meters per second) on Jan. 14.  LRO and LADEE were a mere 5.6 miles (9 kilometers) apart just after the photos were taken.

LADEE (the name is short for Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) can barely be seen as a somewhat blurry smudge above the moon's pockmarked surface, however this photo was no accident. The LRO and LADEE teams worked together to be sure that the magic moment was preserved, rolling LRO 34 degrees to the west to be sure to capture LADEE at the right moment. [See more photos LADEE taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter]

NASA's LADEE moon dust probe (circled) is photographed by the agency's powerful Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in this image released on Jan. 29, 2014. The image, taken on Jan. 14, shows LADEE from a distance of 5.6 miles (9 kilometers) away as the two spacecraft passed each other as they orbited the moon. Both spacecraft are orbiting the moon with velocities near 3,600 mph (1,600 meters per second), so timing and pointing of LRO must be nearly perfect to capture LADEE in an LROC image.
Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University

View full size image

"As planned at 8:11 p.m. EST on Jan. 14, 2014, LADEE entered LRO's Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) field of view for 1.35 milliseconds and a smeared image of LADEE was snapped," NASA officials wrote in an image description.

NASA's LRO has a history of spotting other spacecraft from orbit. In December, the probe photographed China's first moon lander and rover — called Chang'e 3 and Yutu respectively — on the lunar surface, marking the first soft-landing on the moon since 1976.

This NASA graphic shows an artist's view of NASA's LADEE moon dust probe overlaid on a photo of the actual spacecraft captured by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (geometrically corrected). Image released Jan. 29, 2014.
Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University

LADEE took measurements before and after the Chinese touchdown to see how the landing impacted the lunar dust environment from its post in orbit.

"LADEE's science instruments gathered data on the dust and gas species before and after the landing to provide the science team with a comparison," Rick Elphic, LADEE project scientist, wrote in a mission update. "The Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS) was running in a mode that would allow it to monitor native lunar atmospheric species, as well as those resulting from Chang'e 3's propulsion system."

This subsection of the LRO image, expanded four times, shows the smeared view of LADEE.
Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University

View full size image

LADEE launched into space on Sept. 6, 2013 to investigate lunar mysteries from orbit around the moon. The loveseat-size spacecraft is designed to probe the thin lunar atmosphere to gather data about the moon's dusty environment. The spacecraft is also going to investigate moon dust mystery dating back to before the Apollo program.

The $504 million LRO probe launched to space in 2009 carrying seven science instruments with it. It is about the size of a Mini Cooper car and orbits about 31 miles (50 km) above the moon's surface.

 

 

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