Europe looks at the moon

2000/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronautika

On 11 November the Commission of the Scientific Programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) gave the final approval to the Smart-1 mission. The objective of the mission is to analyze the origin of the system formed by the Moon and the Earth and to investigate the dynamic and thermal processes responsible for the erosion of the soil of the Moon. The launch will take place at the end of 2002, using the pitcher Ariane-5. The Smart-1 spacecraft will move by electric propulsion (Europe will first use electric propulsion on such a mission) and travel to the Moon for 17 months, then turn around the Moon for 6 months.

The package will use an X-ray spectrometer to study the composition of the Moon. X-rays will excite the atoms of soil rocks and the spectrometer will collect the waves emitted by atoms, information to be used to know the composition of the Moon. The Smart-1 weighs 350 kg and costs 100 million $.