Show's over, folks. The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) slammed into the moon between 9:30 and 10:22 pm PDT on Thursday, Apr. 17.
Due to an insufficient quantity of fuel to maintain a long-term lunar orbit, NASA was forced to let LADEE's orbit naturally decay following the spacecraft's final low-altitude science phase.
"At the time of impact, LADEE was traveling at a speed of 3,600 miles per hour – about three times the speed of a high-powered rifle bullet," said Rick Elphic, LADEE project scientist at Ames. "There's nothing gentle about impact at these speeds – it's just a question of whether LADEE made a localized craterlet on a hillside or scattered debris across a flat area. It will be interesting to see what kind of feature LADEE has created."
Not only will NASA scientists try to pinpoint the exact time and location of the spacecraft's impact, but they will work with the space agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) team to possibly capture an image of the impact site.
LADEE was "a mission of firsts," according to Joan Salute, LADEE program executive. The space probe collected detailed information about the structure and makeup of the tenuous lunar atmosphere.
Ultimately, scientists hope that LADEE data can help them determine whether moon dust was responsible for the pre-sunrise glow observed above the lunar horizon during several Apollo missions.
The spacecraft also hosted NASA's first dedicated system for two-way communication utilizing laser instead of radio waves. The Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) demonstrated record-breaking data download and upload speeds to the moon at 622 megabits per second (Mbps) and 20 Mbps, respectively.
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Source : http://thespacereporter.com/2014/04/traveling-three-times-faster-than-a-bullet-ladee-meets-its-maker/
