The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter of NASA has spotted a newly formed crater on the moon's surface, which is the crash site of NASA's own Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) team was able to spot the point of impact of the LADEE with the help of a new tool that has been recently developed.
The tool, which searches images taken by the Narrow Angle Camera of the LRO, shows pairs of before and after images of new craters.
According to Mark Robinson from Arizona State University, who is also the principal investigator of LROC, the point of impact of the LADEE was a good test for the tool.
"As it turns out there were several small surface changes found in the predicted area of the impact, the biggest and most distinctive was within 968 feet (295 meters) of the spot estimated by the LADEE operations team. What fun!" Robinson said.
The LADEE, which was intentionally crashed by its controllers into the moon on April 18, was launched in September 2013 for a 100-day mission to study the surface of the moon. The spacecraft was able to start its investigation on the gases and particles that float above the moon on Nov. 10.
LADEE was also utilized for the testing of a newly developed laser-based communications system, which would allow data sending to and from spacecraft about 10 times to 100 times faster when compared to the systems being used today.
The engines of LADEE were fired up on April 11, a week before its planned impact, to be able to carry out its last orbital maintenance maneuver and to adjust its position to hit the dark side of the moon at the target speed of 3,800 miles per hour.
LADEE crashed into a location near the eastern rim of the crater known as Sundman V, creating a crater of its own that has a diameter of less than 10 feet. The crater is small compared to those created by other space bodies when they crash into the moon because the speed of LADEE was slow compared to the speeds of other bodies, coupled with the spacecraft's low density and mass.
The debris scattered by the LADEE upon impact primarily formed a triangular pattern that extends up to almost 1,000 feet from the crash site in the northwest direction, which is the flight path of the LADEE when it crashed into the moon's surface.
"I'm happy that the LROC team was able to confirm the LADEE impact point," said LADEE project manager Butler Hine. "It really helps the LADEE team to get closure and know exactly where the product of their hard work wound up."
