Europe reaches the Moon (Forwarded)

European Space Agency
Press Release No. 60-2004
Paris, France

16 November 2004

Europe reaches the Moon

ESA's SMART-1 is successfully making its first orbit of the Moon, a significant
milestone for the first of Europe's Small Missions for Advanced Research in
Technology (SMART) spacecraft.

A complex package of tests on new technologies was successfully performed during
the cruise to the Moon, while the spacecraft was getting ready for the
scientific investigations which will come next. These technologies pave the way
for future planetary missions.

SMART-1 reached its closest point to the lunar surface so far -- its first
'perilune' -- at an altitude of about 5000 kilometres at 18:48 Central European
Time (CET) [1748 UTC] on 15 November. Just hours before that, at 06:24 CET [0524
UTC], SMART-1's solar-electric propulsion system (or 'ion engine') was started
up and is now being fired for the delicate manoeuvre that will stabilise the
spacecraft in lunar orbit.

During this crucial phase, the engine will run almost continuously for the next
four days, and then for a series of shorter burns, allowing SMART-1 to reach its
final operational orbit by making ever-decreasing loops around the Moon. By
about mid-January, SMART-1 will be orbiting the Moon at altitudes between 300
kilometres (over the lunar south pole) and 3000 kilometres (over the lunar north
pole), beginning its scientific observations.

The main purpose of the first part of the SMART-1 mission, concluding with the
arrival at the Moon, was to demonstrate new spacecraft technologies. In
particular, the solar-electric propulsion system was tested over a long
spiralling trip to the Moon of more than 84 million kilometres. This is a
distance comparable to an interplanetary cruise. For the first time ever,
gravity-assist manoeuvres, which use the gravitational pull of the approaching
Moon, were performed by an electrically-propelled spacecraft. The success of
this test is important to the prospects for future interplanetary missions using
ion engines.

SMART-1 has demonstrated new techniques for eventually achieving autonomous
spacecraft navigation. The OBAN experiment tested navigation software on ground
computers to determine the exact position and velocity of the spacecraft using
images of celestial objects taken by the AMIE camera on SMART-1 as references.
Once used on board future spacecraft, the technique demonstrated by OBAN will
allow spacecraft to know where they are in space and how fast they are moving,
limiting the need for intervention by ground control teams.

SMART-1 also carried out deep-space communication tests, with the KaTE and RSIS
experiments, consisting of testing radio transmissions at very high frequencies
compared to traditional radio frequencies. Such transmissions will allow the
transfer of ever-increasing volumes of scientific data from future spacecraft.
With the Laser Link experiment, SMART-1 tested the feasibility of pointing a
laser beam from Earth at a spacecraft moving at deep-space distances for future
communication purposes.

During the cruise, to prepare for the lunar science phase, SMART-1 made
preliminary tests on four miniaturised instruments, which are being used for the
first time in space: the AMIE camera, which has already imaged Earth, the Moon
and two total lunar eclipses from space, the D-CIXS and XSM X-ray instruments,
and the SIR infrared spectrometer.

In all, SMART-1 clocked up 332 orbits around Earth. It fired its engine 289
times during the cruise phase, operating for a total of about 3700 hours. Only
59 kilograms of xenon propellant were used (out of 82 kilograms). Overall, the
engine performed extremely well, enabling the spacecraft to reach the Moon two
months earlier than expected.

The extra fuel available also allowed the mission designers to significantly
reduce the altitude of the final orbit around the Moon. This closer approach to
the surface will be even more favourable for the science observations that start
in January. The extra fuel will also be used to boost the spacecraft back into a
stable orbit, after six months of operations around the Moon, in June, if the
scientific mission is extended.

For more information please contact:

ESA Media Relations Division
Tel: +33(0)1.53.69.7155
Fax: +33(0)1.53.69.7690

More about ...

* Europe goes to the Moon
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/SMART-1/index.html
* SMART-1 overview
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/120371_index_0_m.html

Related articles

* SMART-1 views Middle East and Mediterranean
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/SMART-1/SEMDNPV4QWD_0.html
* ESA’s SMART-1 on course on lunar landing anniversary
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/SMART-1/SEMKRXU4QWD_0.html
* Ion drives: Science fiction or science fact?
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM3JQXO4HD_index_0.html

Related links

* SMART-1 Sci Tech Status Reports
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/obj...objectid=31517
&farchive_objecttypeid=30 &farchive_objectid=30930
* SMART-1 press kit
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMI29374OD_1_spk.html

IMAGE CAPTIONS:

[Image 1:
http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEM2..._index_1.html]
SMART-1 is shown here, during its first orbit of the Moon, while firing its ion
engine. During this crucial phase, the engine runs almost continuously for four
days, 15-19 November and then for a series of shorter burns, allowing SMART-1 to
reach its final operational orbit by making ever-decreasing loops around the Moon.

Credits: ESA

[Image 2:
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/...20041115a.jpg]
This image shows the Moon as seen by SMART-1 during the approach phase. The
first image (on the left), was taken on 28 October, at a distance of about 600
000 kilometres from the Moon, when the spacecraft was in its last orbit around
Earth. The second (main) image was taken on 12 November, about fifteen days
later, at a distance of about 60 000 kilometres. At that time, the Moon was
invisible from Earth (new Moon).

The slightly illuminated part at the top of the Moon (right-side image) shows a
'slice' of the Moon far side at about the latitude of the lunar north pole. The
far side is seen for the first time by a European spacecraft, and ESA is only
the third organisation to do so in the history of lunar exploration.

The Moon image on the right, is the last shot that the AMIE camera could take
before SMART-1 prepared for the delicate manoeuvre that will stabilise the
spacecraft in lunar orbit, consisting in a burn of the ion engine that will last
for about four days, from 15 to 19 November 2004.

Credits: ESA/Space-X, Space Exploration Institute