09/06/2013

NASA Craft to Sniff Moondust, Test Laser Broadband

6:48 minutes

NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) will suck up dust and gas floating above the Moon to catalog the ingredients of the thin lunar atmosphere. LADEE project scientist Richard Elphic says the orbiter will also shoot data from the Moon using a laser, in the first test of space-based broadband.

Segment Guests

Rick Elphic

Rick Elphic is a collaborator in EVA crew/science support for BASALT. He’s at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

Meet the Producer

About Christopher Intagliata

Christopher Intagliata was Science Friday’s senior producer. He once served as a prop in an optical illusion and speaks passable Ira Flatowese.