$6 Million Instrument for Lunar Research

The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at Boulder at the University of Colorado is building a technically advanced lunar dust detector LDEX, as part of the Lunar Dust Experiment. This instrument will be mounted on the LADEE, or Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Experiment Explorer mission, an orbiting satellite and will test the dust in the moon’s atmosphere.

The purpose of this technologically advanced instrument will be to provide more information about the lunar surface, especially the dust that floats over its surface. The experiment intends to find out more about the characteristics of this dust, its components and its interaction with the surface of the moon. It also hope to answer questions posed regarding the impact of solar wind on this dust as well as the more important aspect regarding the impact of this dust on the safety of astronauts who enter the atmosphere of the moon.

LASP has been awarded a $6 million grant from NASA to build this highly specialized instrument. This grant provides $1 million at the start of the program another $5 million during the four year period during which the instrument needs to be designed, developed and tested for flight and functioning ability in outer space.

LDEX is slated to be the first instrument to be tested and calibrated for flight into outer space by the Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies, or CCLDAS, one of seven initial members of NASA’s Lunar Science Institute.

LADEE is a cooperative effort with NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. LADEE is expected to launch in the year 2011 and its findings will be instrumental in shaping the future of manned explorations on the surface of the moon.