Lunar Science Mission

NASA Moon Dust Probe

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NASA’s newest lunar probe has officially begun its mission to study the moon’s tenuous atmosphere like never before, as well as track how dust moves across the lunar sky.

The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, nicknamed LADEE for short, entered its science orbit on Wednesday (Nov. 20). The spacecraft now circles the moon once every two hours in an orbit, approaching within a mere 8 miles (12 kilometers) at its closest point and soaring 37 miles (60 km) overhead at its highest point, NASA officials said.

The $280 million LADEE spacecraft launched from a Virginia spaceport Sept. 6 and is expected to spend about 100 days probing the structure and composition of the thin atmosphere of the moon.  [Photos: NASA's LADEE Moon Dust Mission in Pictures]