The reaction wheels of NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) that position and stabilize the spacecraft were brought back online and LADEE acquired its safe-mode attitude profile after a successful launch Friday evening, NASA said in a statement.
During technical checkouts Friday evening, the LADEE spacecraft commanded itself to shut down the reaction wheels as a result of fault protection limits put in place before launch to safeguard the wheels, NASA said. The limits that caused the wheels powering off soon after activation were disabled and reaction wheel fault protection was selectively re-enabled.
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| NASA’s LADEE launches Friday aboard one of Orbital Sciences’ Minotaur V rockets. Photo: NASA. |
Orbital Sciences [ORB] successfully launched the spacecraft Friday evening from NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility in eastern Virginia aboard one of the company’s Minotaur V rockets. The Minotaur first stage ignited at 11:27 p.m. EST and separated the LADEE spacecraft 23 minutes later into its intended insertion point, according to Orbital. With the placement of LADEE into its highly elliptical orbit (HEO), the spacecraft begins its 30-day journey to the moon.
Once LADEE reaches its nominal orbit approximately 31 miles above the lunar surface, LADEE will collect data on the Moon’s exosphere and lunar dust environment. It will also gather data derived from new laser communication technologies, which will likely prove beneficial for future deep space missions.