At the end of the fuel, at high speed early on Friday, the NASA spacecraft crashed into the moon, as planned beforehand.
On Friday, NASA told the press that LADEE did not have enough fuel to stay in orbit for a long time and continue research, and that the spacecraft was forced to crash into the lunar surface.
The collision occurred between 12:30 am and 1:22 am Eastern time on Friday, somewhere on the far side of the moon. LADEE (Researcher of the lunar atmosphere and dust environment) was engaged in the study of samples of dust and gas of the Moon and its surrounding space. At the end of its mission, LADEE dropped to two kilometers above the Moon in order to collect new data for research at such an unprecedentedly low altitude. Lead scientist Rick Alfick, from NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, said that gradually lowering to a lower height yielded new results.
Due to the fact that the LADEE speed was 1600 meters per second, its parts not only disintegrated, but could simply evaporate. NASA also plans to send a similar Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter ship to orbit at the LADEE crash site.
