Jacques van Oene
September 27th 04, 09:24 PM
N° 54-2004 - Paris, 27 September 2004
SMART-1 celebrates its first year in space
One year after its launch on 27 September 2003, the SMART-1 spacecraft is in
excellent health and preparing for the manoeuvres that will bring it into
orbit around the Moon mid-November. The first mission phase, the aim of
which was to test several innovative technologies, has been successfully
completed. It included, in a first for Europe, testing of primary
solar-electric propulsion and of a miniaturised payload for cruise science
experiments, telecommunications and spacecraft navigation.
The ion engine went into action three days after launch and slowly placed
SMART-1 safely above the radiation belts that surround the Earth. From
there, SMART-1 started spiralling around our planet to eventually come
closer, through ever wider orbits, to the so-called 'Moon capture' point.
During this transfer phase, the ion engine fired its thrusters for periods
of several days to progressively raise its apogee (the maximum altitude of
its orbit) to the orbit of the Moon.
So far, the SMART-1 ion engine has operated for about 3300 hours and covered
a distance of some 78 million kilometres, with only 52 kilograms of
propellant. With this successful demonstration, SMART-1 is paving the way
for future deep-space missions, using a solar- electric engine as primary
propulsion. It will be applied to long, energy-demanding interplanetary
missions in the Solar System, reducing the size and cost of propulsion
systems, while increasing manoeuvrability and the mass available for
scientific instrumentation.
ESA plans to use primary solar-electric propulsion for its future
BepiColombo and Solar Orbiter missions.
During its first year in space, SMART-1 has also successfully tested new
space communication techniques. For the first time, SMART-1 has used very
short radio waves (called Ka band at 32 Gigahertz, with the KaTE instrument)
to communicate with Earth. These enable far more information to be
transmitted over deep space than the commonly used frequencies and in a
shorter period of time.
Another SMART-1 achievement is the successful testing of a laser
communication link experiment with ESA's optical ground station in Tenerife,
Canary Islands in February of this year. This laser technology, in which
Europe is a leader, has already been applied to telecommunications
satellites, but this was the first time a laser link had been used to
communicate with a distant, rapidly moving spacecraft.
Both techniques will be crucial for future science missions where huge
amounts of scientific data have to be transferred back to Earth over large
distances in space.
During its cruise, SMART-1's miniaturised payload, consisting of seven
instruments weighing only 19 kilograms in total, has been tested. All
instruments onboard SMART-1 were operated and performed successfully in a
number of science experiments. This was excellent preparation for the next
phase of the SMART-1 mission: an unprecedented scientific study of the Moon,
exploring in-depth the mysteries of our Earth's natural satellite.
With all these achievements to celebrate after its first year in space,
SMART-1 is now preparing for the next big milestone, the lunar capture which
is expected to take place less than two months from now.
Note for editors:
SMART-1 was launched on 27 September 2003 from Kourou, Europe's spaceport in
French Guiana, onboard an Ariane-5 rocket. It is the first in a series of
'Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology', designed to
demonstrate innovative and key technologies for future deep-space science
missions. In addition to its technological objectives, SMART-1 is Europe's
first lunar mission and will perform a detailed scientific study of the
Moon.
More information about SMART-1 can be found at:
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/spk.html
For further information please contact:
Giuseppe Racca
ESA SMART-1 Project Manager
Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Tel: + 31 71 565 4618
E-mail:
Bernard Foing
ESA SMART-1 Project Scientist
Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Tel: + 31 71 565 5647
E-mail:
ESA Media Relations Division
Paris, France
Tel: +33 1 5368 7155
Fax: +33 1 5369 7690
--
---------------------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.info
SMART-1 celebrates its first year in space
One year after its launch on 27 September 2003, the SMART-1 spacecraft is in
excellent health and preparing for the manoeuvres that will bring it into
orbit around the Moon mid-November. The first mission phase, the aim of
which was to test several innovative technologies, has been successfully
completed. It included, in a first for Europe, testing of primary
solar-electric propulsion and of a miniaturised payload for cruise science
experiments, telecommunications and spacecraft navigation.
The ion engine went into action three days after launch and slowly placed
SMART-1 safely above the radiation belts that surround the Earth. From
there, SMART-1 started spiralling around our planet to eventually come
closer, through ever wider orbits, to the so-called 'Moon capture' point.
During this transfer phase, the ion engine fired its thrusters for periods
of several days to progressively raise its apogee (the maximum altitude of
its orbit) to the orbit of the Moon.
So far, the SMART-1 ion engine has operated for about 3300 hours and covered
a distance of some 78 million kilometres, with only 52 kilograms of
propellant. With this successful demonstration, SMART-1 is paving the way
for future deep-space missions, using a solar- electric engine as primary
propulsion. It will be applied to long, energy-demanding interplanetary
missions in the Solar System, reducing the size and cost of propulsion
systems, while increasing manoeuvrability and the mass available for
scientific instrumentation.
ESA plans to use primary solar-electric propulsion for its future
BepiColombo and Solar Orbiter missions.
During its first year in space, SMART-1 has also successfully tested new
space communication techniques. For the first time, SMART-1 has used very
short radio waves (called Ka band at 32 Gigahertz, with the KaTE instrument)
to communicate with Earth. These enable far more information to be
transmitted over deep space than the commonly used frequencies and in a
shorter period of time.
Another SMART-1 achievement is the successful testing of a laser
communication link experiment with ESA's optical ground station in Tenerife,
Canary Islands in February of this year. This laser technology, in which
Europe is a leader, has already been applied to telecommunications
satellites, but this was the first time a laser link had been used to
communicate with a distant, rapidly moving spacecraft.
Both techniques will be crucial for future science missions where huge
amounts of scientific data have to be transferred back to Earth over large
distances in space.
During its cruise, SMART-1's miniaturised payload, consisting of seven
instruments weighing only 19 kilograms in total, has been tested. All
instruments onboard SMART-1 were operated and performed successfully in a
number of science experiments. This was excellent preparation for the next
phase of the SMART-1 mission: an unprecedented scientific study of the Moon,
exploring in-depth the mysteries of our Earth's natural satellite.
With all these achievements to celebrate after its first year in space,
SMART-1 is now preparing for the next big milestone, the lunar capture which
is expected to take place less than two months from now.
Note for editors:
SMART-1 was launched on 27 September 2003 from Kourou, Europe's spaceport in
French Guiana, onboard an Ariane-5 rocket. It is the first in a series of
'Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology', designed to
demonstrate innovative and key technologies for future deep-space science
missions. In addition to its technological objectives, SMART-1 is Europe's
first lunar mission and will perform a detailed scientific study of the
Moon.
More information about SMART-1 can be found at:
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/spk.html
For further information please contact:
Giuseppe Racca
ESA SMART-1 Project Manager
Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Tel: + 31 71 565 4618
E-mail:
Bernard Foing
ESA SMART-1 Project Scientist
Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Tel: + 31 71 565 5647
E-mail:
ESA Media Relations Division
Paris, France
Tel: +33 1 5368 7155
Fax: +33 1 5369 7690
--
---------------------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.info