A year ago Monday, the SMART-1 spacecraft was launched toward the Moon
A year ago Monday, the SMART-1 spacecraft was launched toward the Moon. It's
still about four months away from reaching its destination, in what is the slowest
trip to the Moon ever undertaken.
All for good reason.
SMART-1 is the European Space Agency's first trip to the Moon. The spacecraft's
primary mission is to test new technologies, including an ion engine and miniaturized
electronics. It launched Sept. 27, 2003.
The ion engine -- used by NASA on a couple of deep space probes -- generates
a small amount of thrust, but it does so for long periods of time. SMART-1 is
making a seemingly endless series of loops around Earth, gradually wider, to
break free of the planet's gravity and then go into orbit around the Moon.
The craft is now closer to the Moon than it is to Earth, but Earth's more impressive
gravity still has control over the craft. The image here is an artist's rendering
of the craft orbiting the Moon.
-- SPACE.com Staff
Credit: ESA
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