When you're going to go out anyway, at least try to go out in style. That appears to be the latest mantra at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for its robotic the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, which has been exploring the veil of dust and trace gases that surround the moon -- and, by design -- will crash onto the Lunar surface at the latest by April 21.

According to NASA, mission controllers planned the impact because the probe won't have enough fuel to return to Earth. But, after it crashes, the LADEE should pretty much disintegrate.

"At the time of impact, the spacecraft will have used all of its fuel. During impact, the LADEE spacecraft will crumple and break apart," explains a posting on the space agency's Website. "Most of the spacecraft's material will heat up several hundred degrees during impact and stay within about 20 meters of the impact crater. Any unspent rocket fuel (primarily hydrazine) most likely will burn upon impact."

But, a report by Discovery News says before the probe's calculated end, scientists hope to fly the LADEE literally just over the moon's face.

"There is a chance that we could clip a mountain accidentally, but the risk is pretty low for that. And really, the value of the science that we can do with this attempt is worth this risk," project manager Butler Hine, with NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., told reporters on a conference call Thursday.

"The prime mission is in the bag," added LADEE program executive Joan Salute, with NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. "We wouldn't have authorized these low-altitude, high-risk attempts if all the requirements had not already been met."

So, the Discovery piece says, beginning this weekend, LADEE will begin its descent until it's less than two miles above the ground.

Mountain collisions notwithstanding, freezing up during an expected Lunar eclipse April 15 could also give the probe an early death, although engineers say they're fairly confident the LADEE will survive the sunless event.

Assuming the LADEE does, in fact, continue functioning through the eclipse, scientists will be able to glean a lot more data about just how much dust is swirling around in the lower altitudes.

Mission programmers want to get added measurements of trace gases, including neon, magnesium, aluminum, titanium and oxygen, all found in the moon's exosphere, the region of space around the moon.

Along with better understanding the moon, the data expected to be collected through the probe's really close flyby will be used to determine the environments around other airless worlds, such as the ice dwarf planet Pluto, which NASA plans on visiting for the first time next year.