Upcoming robotic moon mission lunar exploration platform arrives at Wallops Flight Facility for launch

The first deep space mission to launch from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s Wallops Flight Facility will be the NASA Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE). The robotic exploration platform arrived on June 4 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility where it will undergo the final processing for its launch to the moon later this year.

In a press release, NASA described the LADEE as “a robotic mission that will orbit the moon to gather detailed information about the lunar atmosphere, conditions near the surface and environmental influences on lunar dust.”

NASA hopes that, through the science gathered by LADEE, many long-standing unknowns, about the Earth’s nearest neighbor will be answered. Additionally, through its three science instruments and one technology demonstration onboard, LADEE may help scientists understand other planetary bodies as well.

LADEE is slated to it launch to the moon on September 5, 2013. Orbital Sciences Corporation is integrating LADEE for its launch aboard a U.S. Air Force Minotaur V rocket. For more information about the LADEE Mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/LADEE