Ladee
• Launch date: 7 September 2013
• Orbital insertion: 8 July 2013
• End of mission: 18 April 2014
• Agency: NASA
The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) was a NASA lunar exploration and technology demonstration mission.
It was launched on September 7, 2013. During its seven-month mission, LADEE orbited around the Moon’s equator, using its instruments to study the lunar exosphere and dust in the Moon’s vicinity. Instruments included a dust detector, neutral mass spectrometer, and ultraviolet-visible spectrometer, as well as a technology demonstration consisting of a laser communications terminal.
The mission ended on April 18, 2014, when the spacecraft’s controllers intentionally crashed LADEE into the far side of the Moon.