LADEE Reaction Wheels Fixed

"The reaction wheel issue noted soon after launched was resolved a few hours later," said NASA Ames Research Center director Pete Worden. "The LADEE spacecraft is healthy and communicating with mission operators." NASA's Ames center developed and built the LADEE spacecraft, and is overseeing its mission operations.

LADEE will take about 30 days to reach the moon and spend 100 days performing its lunar atmosphere and dust mission. The spacecraft will also test a new laser communications system that NASA has billed as a kind of new "interplanetary Internet."    NASA hopes to eventually replace its traditional radio systems with laser communications, which would mean faster bandwidth using significantly less power and smaller devices as needed to send high-definition and 3-D video.

To review a beautiful Infographic for the LADEE Mission, please look here.

To learn more about the science of reaction wheels, click the video image below.