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B.H. Foing (Chief Scientist, ESA/SCI-S), SMART-1 Team
SMART-1 is the first ESA mission that reached the Moon. It is the first of Small Missions for Advanced Research and Technology as part of ESA science programme Cosmic Vision. Its objective is to demonstrate Solar Electric Primary Propulsion (SEP) for future Cornerstones (such as Bepi-Colombo) and to test new technologies for spacecraft and instruments. The spacecraft was launched on 27 Sept. 2003, as Ariane-5 auxiliary passenger, left the inner radiation belt, and spiralled out towards lunar capture on 15 November 2004, and then towards lunar science orbit reached on 1 March 2005. The mission has been extended until August 2006. This will permit science but also to prepare future international lunar exploration. We shall present an overiew of the mission, and of the first lunar results from SMART-1's science and technology payload, featuring many innovative instruments and advanced technologies with a total mass of some 19 kg. Besides navigation to the Moon, the technology demonstration included an experiment (KaTE) for deep-space communications in the X and Ka-bands, a radio-science experiment (RSIS), a deep space optical link (Laser-Link Experiment), using the ESA Optical Ground station in Tenerife, and the validation of a system of autonomous navigation (OBAN). The payload includes a miniaturized high-resolution camera (AMIE) for lunar surface imaging, a near-infrared point-spectrometer (SIR) for lunar mineralogy investigation, and a very compact X-ray spectrometer (D-CIXS) measuring fluorescence spectroscopy and imagery of the Moon's surface elemental composition. SMART-1 lunar science investigations include studies of the chemical composition of the Moon, of geophysical processes (volcanism, tectonics, cratering, erosion, deposition of ices and volatiles) for comparative planetology, and high resolution studies in preparation for future steps of lunar exploration. The mission could address several topics such as the accretional processes that led to the formation of rocky planets, and the origin and evolution of the Earth-Moon system.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.