Europe's 1st lunar mission reaches moon

Yahoo & AP ^ | September 2, 2006

[RadioAstronomer]

That is too cool. :-)

[drtom]

So, you were involved with Esrange, I take it?

[RadioAstronomer]

Yuppers. :-) For only a couple of years back in the 90s.

[drtom]

Cool. My core time at the MPE was 91-93 as well. Did a quick stint at ESO in the mid-90s (planetary nebulae / supernova remnants)

Haven't been to Europe lately, though. Except for vacation and (commercial) business trips, of course.

[TNdandelion]

I've spewed. All over the keyboard! LOL

[TNdandelion]

You are taking this subject with incredible seriousness. That is unfortunate.

[4woodenboats]

The engine uses electricity from the craft's solar panels to produce a stream of charged particles called ions. It generates only small amounts of thrust but needed only 176 pounds of xenon fuel to power the craft, a cube measuring roughly 3 feet on each side.

I'm guessing they're referring to electrostatic precipitation, a technology that goes back well over 100 years, is used widely in air purification and ozone production. I've built prototypes that'd push over 1100 ft per minute (no fan or other moving parts), and always wondered what it'd do in a vacum.

[4woodenboats]

"I, for one, welcome our new ant overlords."

I don't know if you are aware of this, but that is a direct quote from the news anchor on the Simpsons.

Don't worry, your secret is safe with me.

[Irishguy]

i agree, its all very US versus them.

i fail to see what the problem is. 80kgs of fuel to get to the moon and like one fellow freeper said, we should be blasting these things off throughout the solar system long ago. if it encourages action to return to the moon and go beyond i personally think its a good thing.

we can do this, it just needs focus...and IMHO if we are going to do it right and reduce the cost the sharing of this info and any info is critical..

[WoofDog123]

signal-to-noise on these threads is usually pretty low.

[Kenny Bunk]

....if it encourages action to return to the moon and go beyond i personally think its a good thing.

Never could figure out why we never went back to build a moon base.

[RadioAstronomer]

Money and public opinion.

[GunnyHartman]

America should be ashamed today...the Europeans beat us to Mars!

[Fletch357]

Your uncle must have had the "pleasure" of working alongside Arthur Rudolph... Wernher Von Braun... Berhard Tessman... Hubertus Strughold... Kurt Debus... Walter Dornberger... All NASA Directors, Scientists, Engineers etc and German born Nazi's smuggled to the US at the end of WW2....... Without them, there was no program.....

[jmcenanly]

All except for apollo 10. That ascent module is in solar orbit. :-)

And Apollo 13's LEm burnt up on reentry. Any reamains are at the bottom of the Pacific ocean

[samtheman]

Interesting points. You certainly have provided more information than the original article did.

[cabojoe]

This view of SMART-1 impacting the lunar surface was captured by the 3.6-meter optical/infrared Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The impact flash lasted only about 1 millisecond. It may have been caused by the thermal emission from the impact itself or by the release of spacecraft volatiles, such as the small amount of hydrazine fuel remaining on board. Credits: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation

Spaceflight Now

[skinkinthegrass]

....was it on purpose?.....just asking. :^/

[Irishguy]

me neither...