In
an attempt to answer prevailing questions about our moon, NASA is
making final preparations to launch a probe at 11:27 p.m. EDT Friday,
Sept. 6, from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va.
The small car-sized Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer
(LADEE) is a robotic mission that will orbit the moon to gather detailed
information about the structure and composition of the thin lunar
atmosphere and determine whether dust is being lofted into the lunar
sky. A thorough understanding of these characteristics of our nearest
celestial neighbor will help researchers understand other bodies in the
solar system, such as large asteroids, Mercury, and the moons of outer
planets
