MDA

MDA funded and managed the first DoD mission to deep space, Clementine. During the eight years prior to Clementine's Deep Space Program Scientific Experiment (DSPSE) mission launch on January 25, 1994, MDA developed new lightweight technologies for spacecraft components and sensors. The primary purpose of the Clementine mission was to space qualify more than 20 components. To do this it used the moon, a near-Earth asteroid, and the spacecraft's Interstage Adapter to demonstrate lightweight component and sensor performance. The secondary mission returned valuable data of interest to the international civilian scientific community. Clementine was placed in lunar mapping orbit in late February 1994 where several of its advanced lightweight cameras recorded approximately 1.5 million images of over 99.9% of the Moon's surface, including laser radar measurements which produced a topographical map of the lunar surface. In December 1996, scientists revealed that deposits of ice could exist in permanently dark regions near the Moon's south pole.

Lunar South Pole

APL Management Team