Free Republic

Europe's lunar satellite, the Smart 1 probe, has ended its mission by crashing onto the Moon's surface. It was a spectacular end for the robotic probe, which has spent the last 16 months testing innovative and miniaturised space technologies. Smart 1 has also produced detailed maps of the Moon's chemical make-up, to help refine theories about its birth. At about 0542 GMT (0642 BST), the probe crashed into a volcanic plain called the Lake of Excellence. With an impact speed of about 7,200km/h (4,500mph), even at an expected glancing blow of just one degree to the surface, the probe should...

BERLIN (AP) - Europe's first mission to the moon is due to crash-land in a cloud of dust and rock Sunday, ending a three-year voyage that gathered data about the lunar surface and tested a new engine intended to propel future spacecraft to Mercury and other planets. The European Space Agency's SMART-1 should hit its target on a volcanic plain called the Lake of Excellence at 0541GMT, orbiting lower and lower as it makes its final approach at 2 kilometers per second, or 7,200 kilometers per hour (4,475 mph). Observatories on Earth will try to capture images of the impact...

New imagery of old Apollo touchdown spots, from the European Space Agency's (ESA) SMART-1 probe, might put to rest conspiratorial thoughts that U.S. astronauts didn't go the distance and scuff up the lunar landscape. NASA carried out six piloted landings on the Moon in the time period 1969 through 1972... Bernard Foing, Chief Scientist of the ESA Science Program... told SPACE.com that the SMART-1 orbiter circling the Moon has already covered the Apollo 11, 16, 17 landing sites, as well as spots where the former Soviet Union's Luna 16 and Luna 20 automated vehicles plopped down... Foing said that each...

see the link for hundreds of such stories.

The SMART-1 mission was designed to pursue two main objectives. The first is purely technological: to demonstrate and test a number of space techniques to be applied to future interplanetary exploration missions. The second goal is scientific, mainly dedicated to lunar science. It is the technology demonstration goal, in particular the first European flight test of a solar-powered ion engine as a spacecraft’s main propulsion system, that gave shape to the peculiar route and duration (13 months) of the SMART-1 journey to the Moon. The long spiralling orbit around Earth, which is bringing the spacecraft closer and closer to the...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 December 7 The Eskimo Nebula from Hubble Credit: Andrew Fruchter (STScI) et al., WFPC2, HST, NASA Explanation: In 1787, astronomer William Herschel discovered the Eskimo Nebula. From the ground, NGC 2392 resembles a person's head surrounded by a parka hood. In 2000, the Hubble Space Telescope imaged the Eskimo Nebula. From space, the nebula displays gas clouds so complex they are not fully understood. The Eskimo Nebula...

When President George W. Bush officially announced the new space initiative at NASA Headquarters on January 14, he invoked the memory of a famous pair of explorers, Lewis and Clark. As Bush put it: Two centuries ago, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark left St. Louis to explore the new lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. They made that journey in the spirit of discovery, to learn the potential of vast new territory, and to chart a way for others to follow. America has ventured forth into space for the same reasons. A closer reading of history, though, suggests that the...

from the January 29, 2004 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0129/p14s02-stss.html Another giant leapScientists around the world are eyeing the moon as a future research lab and a gateway to space exploration, while companies look at commercial prospects.By Peter N. Spotts | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor It's been dubbed Earth's attic, a keystone for understanding the early history of the inner planets, and even a potential safe-deposit box for evidence of life early in the solar system's history. By whatever label, the moon's star appears to be rising. Even before President Bush unveiled his space policy earlier this month,...

Europe's first mission to the Moon looks set for a July blast-off. Scientists and engineers working on the Smart 1 spacecraft are hoping to fly around the 15th of that month - but it all depends on the status of the launcher. Currently, Europe's rockets are grounded following the high-profile failure of a vehicle in December last year. But it seems the rocket's operators, Arianespace, are confident enough about the outcome of a post-accident review of systems to give Smart 1 a provisional launch date. "We've just been told we can go for July," Dr Sarah Dunkin, one of the...

If speculation turns fact that President George Bush is supporting a NASA return to the Moon, he is not alone in wanting to go the lunar distance. Numbers of nations -- China, India, Japan, among them -- are making plans to explore the Moon. A worldwide gathering of lunar experts has called for a sequence of technological, exploratory and commercial missions culminating in the establishment a human presence on the Moon. The declaration -- issued December 4 -- was hammered out following a major international meeting of scientists, engineers, and mission planners, held November 16-22 on Hawai`i Island, Hawaii. The...

Moon colony 'within 20 years' By Helen Briggs BBC News Online science reporter Humans could be living on the Moon within 20 years, says a leading lunar scientist. According to Bernard Foing of the European Space Agency, the technology will soon exist to set up an outpost for visiting astronauts. However, political will is needed to inspire the public to support the initiative. "We believe that technologically it's possible," the project scientist on Europe's first Moon mission, Smart-1, told BBC News Online. "But it will depend in the end on the political will to go and establish a human...

Solar storm surge 'not over yet' By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor Spectacular aurorae have been seen at higher latitudes Scientists are warning that the spurt of dramatic solar activity may not be over yet. One astronomer described the two large gas clouds that reached the Earth earlier this week as 'unprecedented.' However, experts say that although unusual, the events are not beyond the bounds of 'normal' solar activity. They say the flares do not represent any significant change in our Sun's behaviour as there has only been 25 years of monitoring from space. 'Two big shots...

Stealing a ride on a comet to the sun: spaceship's 10-year, 4bn mile odyssey European craft's audacious trip will give insight into our origins Tim Radford, science editorTuesday January 14, 2003The Guardian Some time in the next two weeks, European scientists hope to launch a spaceship the size of a delivery van and lob it across more than 4 billion miles of space to rendezvous 10 years from now with a dark lump of rock and ice the size of a city block. The spacecraft - called Rosetta after the stone that provided the key to the mystery of ancient...

NASA may be left in the lunar dust as other nations launch their own Moon plans. There is growing Moon fever in China, Japan, India, and Europe as lunar orbiters and robot lander missions are plotted out. The global attraction to the Moon is stirring up the prospect that expeditions from various countries are keen to plant flag and footprint on the barren and foreboding world. There are rumblings that a new vision for NASA is in the making at the White House, one that embraces a human return to the Moon as a stepping stone to eventually dispatch a...

<p>KOUROU, French Guiana -- Europe's first mission to the moon has successfully blasted off aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana.</p> <p>The rocket, carrying the unmanned SMART-1 lunar exploration probe and two other commercial satellites, took off at 8.14 p.m. (2314 GMT) Saturday from the European Space Agency (ESA) launch centre at Kourou, on the northeast coast of South America.</p>

The first European mission to the moon is scheduled to blast off in October ALTHOUGH many missions have been sent to our lunar neighbour, the lure of the moon remains enormous. If all goes well, in October, another attempt to prise free a few more lunar secrets will launch from French Guiana. Scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA) are looking for clues that may shed light on the moon's origins, and also search for hard evidence of water-ice in craters near the poles. The tiny, 370kg (816lb), probe known as SMART-1 will hitch a ride into space with two...

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...

Europe's first Moon probe prepares for launch ESA PR 50-2003. Europe's first probe to the Moon, SMART-1, is about to begin a unique journey that will take it into orbit around our closest neighbour, powered only by an ion engine which Europe will be testing for the first time as main spacecraft propulsion. The European Space Agency's SMART-1 spacecraft was delivered to Kourou, French Guiana, on July 15 and is currently being prepared for launch atop an Ariane 5 during the night from August 28 to 29. The launch window will open at 20:04 local time (01:04 on August...

11-Jun-2002 As scientists demand more from space missions travelling to other worlds and beyond, traditional rocket technologies are beginning to show shortcomings. In response, ESA are helping to develop a new type of rocket engine, known as solar-electric propulsion, or more commonly, an ion engine, that can mark a whole new era of space exploration. Solar-electric propulsion is ESA's new spacecraft engine. It does not burn fuel as chemical rockets do; instead the technique converts sunlight into electricity via solar panels and uses it to electrically charge heavy gas atoms, which accelerate from the spacecraft at high velocity. This drives...