CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Europe's first science mission to the Moon was launched into space Saturday.
The Small Missions for Advanced Research and Technology (SMART-1) lunar probe hitchhiked a ride atop a massive Ariane 5 rocket that blasted off from the Guiana Space Center on the edge of the Amazon Jungle in South America at 7:14 p.m. EDT (2314 GMT).
Launched by the European commercial firm Arianespace, the booster's main job was to lift two large communications satellites into Earth orbit, which it did without incident, before sending the office desk-sized science platform on its way to Earth's nearest neighbor in space.
"Bravo for this superb success," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, Arianespace's chief executive officer. "It is the first time that an Ariane 5 has launched three satellites and it's the first time we have launched a lunar probe. Judging by the orbit it is in, it's on its good way."
SMART-1 is the first robotic spacecraft the European Space Agency (ESA) has ever sent to the Moon. Moreover, its launch marked the first time in four years that any nation has dispatched a lunar mission.
ESA in the past has either directly or indirectly been involved in missions to explore Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, comets, asteroids and the Sun -- but this is the first time Europe has looked in Earth's backyard.
Equipped with ion thrusters -- which are not very powerful but can be fired for days at a time to constantly accelerate a spaceship -- SMART-1 will take about 16 months to reach the Moon, when it will then begin its six-month science mission.Instruments aboard the Swedish-built SMART-1 will map the lunar surface in fine detail and hopefully discover new evidence that will solve the mystery of how the Moon was formed some four billion years ago.
Other devices on the spacecraft might help confirm if there is water ice hiding in shadows within craters near the lunar poles, as some previous observations have hinted.
Finding water ice on the Moon would be a big deal because the hydrogen and oxygen atoms that make up molecules of water could provide a source of fuel and air for future explorers or colonists.
Total mission success
Also celebrating Saturday's launch were the operators of two major communications satellites deployed during the Ariane 5 shot.
First to be separated from the rocket was Insat 3E, a satellite designed and built by the Indian Space Research Organization in Bangalore, India.
Insat 3E is the eleventh Indian satellite flown by Arianespace during the past 22 years. It will be positioned over the equator at 55 degrees East Longitude and provide a full range of communications services, including video transmission, to the Indian sub-continent using 24 C-band and 12 extended C-band transponders.
The second spacecraft released from the rocket was e-BIRD, a satellite designed and built by Boeing Satellite Systems in El Segundo, Calif. Its 20 Ku-band transponders will be operated by Eutelsat to provide broadband Internet service to Europe and Turkey.
The e-BIRD satellite is the 20th Eutelsat spacecraft launched by Arianespace. It will be positioned over the equator at 33 degrees East Longitude.
Following the on-time liftoff of Arianespace's flight 162, the Ariane 5G with its single main engine and pair of solid rocket boosters worked perfectly as it climbed into the night sky over the Atlantic Ocean.
Launch commentators confirmed every milestone on schedule, including the separation of Insat 3E about 29 minutes after launch, e-BIRD at 34 minutes and 17 seconds, and finally SMART-1 at 41 minutes and 40 seconds into the flight.
The launch was Arianespace's fourth this year and the company's 150th commercial shot. The flight took place about a month later than originally targeted.
Mission managers were preparing for an Aug. 28 launch when the Insat 3E team called a halt to operations because of concerns with parts on its spacecraft, which required a round of tests to ensure they were properly working.
The delay apparently did not sit well with fellow passenger Eutelsat, who following the launch postponement announcement released a statement saying "Eutelsat deplores this new postponement and the consequent delay to the launch of its e-BIRD satellite."
Everyone was all smiles on Saturday, however, following the successful launch.
Liftoff took place 12 minutes into the launch window, the result of a new procedure in which countdown clocks hold on purpose seven minutes before launch for a variable amount of time. During the hold engineers are precisely conditioning the first stage propellant and main engine for the mission.
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