European Moon mission set for blast off (Update)

New Scientist ^ | 09/26/03 | Will Knight

[bedolido]

Europe's first mission to the Moon is set for blast off from Kourou in French Guiana just after midnight, local time, on Sunday.

SMART 1 will be launched from the European spaceport between 2302 and 2321 GMT. It will be taken into space by European's Ariane 5 rocket, along with an Indian science probe and a commercial satellite.

It will take 15 months for SMART 1 to reach the Moon. On arrival it will enter into polar orbit enabling it to view the Moon's surface from every angle.

The probe will then spend six months combing the lunar landscape for signs of frozen water and will map the distribution of surface minerals and chemicals.

"Despite decades of research, we have never fully discovered what the Moon is made of," says Manuel Grande at UK's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, who built the spacecraft's X-ray spectrometer.

Complete picture

The Apollo missions provided an opportunity to analyse only limited areas of the Moon near its equator. More recently, NASA's Lunar Prospector probe used a gamma ray spectrometer to create a global map of heavy metals such as iron on the Moon's surface.

SMART 1 should complete the picture. Its X-ray instrument will determine the distribution of metals such as magnesium, aluminium and silicon. These will produce different X-rays after absorbing the Sun's rays.

Apostolis Christou, research astronomer at Armagh Observatory in Northern Island, says this is the most important aspect of the mission.

"We need the global picture to test the theory that Moon was once covered with a molten ocean," Christou told New Scientist.

X-ray observations could also provide the first glimpse of a type of Moon rock - the lunar mantle - which may be exposed at the Moon's surface in what is the largest crater in the Solar System.

A more complete picture of the Moon's mineral composition could help confirm the theory that the Moon broke off from the Earth due to a huge collision with a Mars-sized object in the past.

Blue jet

Another spectrometer will be used to search for the infrared signature of frozen water hidden in the shadows of lunar craters. This instrument may also detect frozen carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide on the surface of the Moon.

Crucially, surface water ice could eventually provide supplies for permanent bases on the Moon.

Even while the probe is travelling towards its target it will not lie idle. Its X-ray spectrometer will be pointed towards bright comets in order to test the theory that solar wind can excite the gas surrounding these mysterious bodies causing them to emit X-rays.

On its long trek through space the cube-shaped probe will test a revolutionary solar electric propulsion system. Electrical power generated by the craft's solar panels will be used to excite xenon, which will generate thrust by emitting a blue jet of ions.

Smaller engine

Ion propulsion systems are less powerful than conventional chemical rockets but can run for ten times as long using the same mass of propellant. This makes it possible to reach a target with a much smaller engine, reducing overall launch costs dramatically.

SMART 1 is miniscule compared to many spacecraft. It weighs 367 kilograms and measures one metre on all sides, although its solar panels will unfurl to measure 14 metres across.

The mission is part of a European Space Agency drive to reduce the cost and complexity of its space projects. These missions will all be identified by the title SMART, meaning Small Mission for Advanced Research in Technology.

Will Knight

[bedolido]

Original Thread

[azhenfud]

Fifteen months?
The thing must be propelled by solar winds....

[Lokibob]

Thats the beauty of this thing.

It is powered by a tiny ion engine, making it quite cost effective.

If successful, scientists see in the future a whole bevy of coffee can sized experiments going off to all corners of the galaxy, and reporting back what they discover.

[Technocrat]

No, it's propelled by blue darts, I mean, jets. Didn't you read the article?:) The astronauts must have a great deal of French food and German beer on board.

[CasearianDaoist]

yes, and reporting it back to their great,great, great grandchildren. We did this a decade ago. The future is in nuclear power sources (possibly with a ion drive.

[areafiftyone]

Been there Done that

[Porterville]

ten dollars it fails just like everything European.

[azhenfud]

250,000 mi / (30 days x 24 hrs/day x 15 mos) = 23 mph lateral procession.

Fairly slow, just like some in Europe.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Fifteen months? The thing must be propelled by solar winds....

My thought exactly. With the Moon approximately 250,000 miles away...that means this thing is moving at approximately 23 miles per hour? Can that be right?

[dead]

Ion engines accelerate very slowly, but accelerate constantly. It won't get up to any great speeds between here and the moon, but between here and Jupiter would be a different story.

[RightWhale]

"Despite decades of research, we have never fully discovered what the Moon is made of," says Manuel Grande

Actual true statement: "Despite decades of sitting on our bu . . . laurels, we have never fully discovered what the Moon is made of," says Manuel Grande

[ffusco]

Like we haven't ever lost a satelite, or blew up a rocket, or misread english and metric dimmensions on a plan? The Euro's invented both the jet and the rocket.

[Porterville]

That is true the Nazis... excuse me, the Euro's did create the rocket and jet...

[ffusco]

What does that have to do with anything? The scientists weren't Nazis and those programs pre-ceeded that regime. The rocket industry in Europe goes back to Marco Polo and gunpowder from China.

[Porterville]

I just get my socialistic Euro weenies mixed up....

[Bubba_Leroy]

"Despite decades of research, we have never fully discovered what the Moon is made of"

Green cheese.

[jokar]

That is true the Nazis... excuse me, the Euro's did create the rocket and jet...

Don't leave out the buzz bomb they invented that to.

[ffusco]

The Euros for the most part are like our cranky grandpartents. They think they know it all and you can't tell them anything. Plus their feet are cold and wish we would turn that music down....

[azhenfud]

Hey, that's what I figured - 23 mph.

Slow. A telltale sign it's European.

Seems incredibly slow in comparison to non-powered, orbiting satellites. Isn't their orbit time approx. 90 min?

[azhenfud]

"The Euro's invented both the jet and the rocket."

Sure. And the Chinese invented the magnetic compass, but their failure to implement the invention left them, well, as nothing but the inventor.