Emcore Lands Moon Mission Contract

Emcore Lands Moon Mission
By Michael Hartranft /Albuquerque Journal Staff Writer
Oct 31, 2011

Emcore Corp. has won a contract to design and build 32 solar panels for the spacecraft that will be used in NASA’s coming unmanned mission to the moon, the Albuquerque company said Monday.

Under the contract with ASRC Research and Technology of Greenbelt, Md., Emcore will build the panels for NASA Ames’ LADEE — Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer — moon orbiter.

The contract amount was not disclosed.

“This contract is an exciting award for Emcore and we are proud to support NASA’s newest lunar mission,” said Christopher Larocca, Emcore chief operating officer, noting Emcore has had contracts for other NASA missions, including the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Magnetospheric Multiscale Missions. “We appreciate NASA’s continued confidence in Emcore to supply solar panels for their demanding spacecraft power systems.”

The orbiter, which is scheduled for launch in 2013, will gather information about the lunar atmosphere, including fine dust particles suspected of being above the moon’s surface. According to a NASA website, the data will help researchers predict how future lunar exploration might shape the moon’s environment, as well as understand other planetary bodies with very thin atmospheres.

The spacecraft is scheduled to be shot into space aboard a Minotaur V rocket from the Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Va.