A ROBOTIC spacecraft ended a pioneering mission to map dust and gases around the moon with a planned, kamikaze crash into the lunar surface yesterday.
The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) had been flying at increasingly lower altitudes to study how dust is lifted off the lunar surface and what gases comprise the moon's so-called exosphere.
Nasa officials had planned to crash the spacecraft into the moon, after it transmitted its data.
LADEE was traveling at 3,600 mph, three times faster than a bullet, so it not only broke apart upon impact, but pieces of it likely vaporized. "There's nothing gentle about impact at these speeds," said lead scientist Rick Elphic of Nasa.
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