Artist's depiction of LADEE.
The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is a NASA lunar exploration mission led by Ames Research Center in collaboration with Goddard Space Flight Center. The spacecraft was launched on September 7th, 2013, 03:27 UTC and entered the Moon's lunar orbit on October 6, 2013, 10:57 UTC. During its nominal 100-day scientific mission, LADEE will orbit around the Moon's equator, and use instruments aboard the spacecraft to study the lunar's atmosphere, and dust in the Moon's vicinity. Instruments include a dust detector, a neutral mass spectrometer, and an ultraviolet-visible spectrometer, as well as a tech technology demonstration consisting of a laser communications terminal.
History[]
LADEE was announced during the presentation of NASA's FY09 budget in February 2008. It was initially planned to be launched with the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) satellites.