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NASA's LADEE confirms the moon's atmosphere has neon
NASA's LADEE ran out of fuel and crashed into the lunar surface in 2014, but not before it collected the data needed to answer some decades-old questions about the moon. One of those is confirming that our natural satellite's atmosphere contains neon -- the same gas used to light up signs in Vegas. Astronomers have been speculating about its presence since the Apollo missions, and now LADEE's Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS) instrument has proven that it exists. It's even relatively abundant, though the moon's atmosphere is too thin (it's actually called "exosphere" due to that reason) to turn it into a glowing orb in the sky.
NASA finds the smoking crater left by its crashed dust probe
NASA just spotted a needle in a haystack: the remains of the lunar dust probe LADEE, which was deliberately crashed into the dark side of the moon last year. The satellite was launched from Wallops Island a year ago to determine if lunar dust tends to go high up into space (spoiler: it doesn't). If you're wondering why NASA deliberately ended the valiant LADEE so ignominiously, it's simple. The 844 pound probe was unable to maintain its orbit, and since the scientists didn't want it to crash into any moon landing sites (however unlikely), they steered it to the far side of the moon. It was spotted by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) on the eastern rim of the Sundman V crater, only 295m (1000 feet) from its originally predicted location. Pretty fancy shootin', NASA.
Daily Roundup: Xperia Z2 review, Oculus VR lets a terminal patient travel and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
NASA just crashed a satellite into the moon on purpose
You might remember NASA's LADEE as the satellite where the administration tested a new broadband-fast laser communication system for sending data back to Earth. Now, however, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer is no more, since NASA just crashed the craft into the surface of the Moon. Unfortunately, the vehicle didn't have the power to maintain its orbit, so the bods in Florida decided to send the hardware on a one-way trip. On the upside, the satellite managed to grab some super-detailed scans of the lunar surface before burning up, and it probably looked really cool when it exploded, which probably justifies the wanton destruction of a multi-million dollar spacecraft.
NASA shoots lasers at the moon, sets new data transmission record
Lasers are indisputably awesome, and NASA just made them a little more so by zapping a record-breaking 622 Mb of data per second between the moon and earth as a part of its Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD). Pulsed laser beams were shot from ground control at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico to the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) satellite orbiting the moon, and the results could herald promising new advances in deep space communication. Radio waves have long been the go-to option for sending information between spacecraft and our planet, but the greater data capacity lasers can accommodate may make it possible for future missions to send higher resolution images and 3D video transmissions across two-way channels. To learn more, take a peek at the press release after the break or head over to the official LLCD site at the source link below.
Alt-week 09.07.13: 3D printed cars, invisibility cloaks, and LADEE launches
Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. We're all about the launches this week, at both ends of the spectrum. At the small-scale, we see what happens when a pinewood derby gets the 3D printing treatment. At the other end, NASA's LADEE begins its voyage to the moon. This is alt-week.
Cover your eyes: NASA, ESA set to bring broadband speeds to space using lasers
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) will soon bring a much-needed data link speed increase between satellites, spacecraft and Earth using laser beams, according to Nature. ESA will get the ball rolling on July 25th when it launches the Alphasat, which will communicate at 300 Mbps with the German Tandem-X satellite over an experimental optical communication terminal. NASA's LADEE Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (which launches September 5th) will take a different tack, however. That mission will communicate directly with the Earth all the way from the moon's orbit, thanks to an atmosphere-penetrating AM-style modulated infrared laser beam and eight ground telescopes. The use of lasers helps both missions avoid radio interference in space and on earth, while bringing six times greater speed from the moon than a radio-based system. Just to be on the safe side, though, NASA does have a backup radio link for LADEE -- as good as lasers are, they can't cut through a solid cloud layer.
NASA readies first laser communications system for LADEE lunar satellite
NASA has just finished the testing and integration of its first high-data-rate laser communications system for the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE). The Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration presents a significant upgrade in existing data communications used in space -- with an estimated increase of six times the throughput of the current best radio system. Unlike previous one-way demonstrations, the LCDD uses an infrared beam -- in the same way that many land-based fiber networks do -- that can be received on Earth by one of three telescopes located in Mexico, California or Spain. It's not just about upping the data rate, though, as other challenges include keeping that signal good through conditions your ISP (thankfully) won't normally have to consider, such as pin-point accuracy over 238,900 miles while moving through space. Going forward, the LLCD will play a vital part in NASA's 2017 Laser Communications Relay Demonstration, a key test of laser-based relay comms in future missions. Back here on Earth, however, we never thought we'd get bandwidth-envy this far out in the sticks.
