Sep 3 2006
From The Space Library
ESA ended its Small Mission for Advanced Research in Technology (SMART-1) with a planned crash landing of the SMART-1 spacecraft into the Moon. The spacecraft impacted at a speed of 4,500 miles per hour (nearly 7,200 kilometers per hour) in a volcanic plain called the Lake of Excellence. ESA had planned the crash so that scientists could study the composition of the resulting dust and debris. SMART-1 had launched on 27 September 2003, orbiting the Moon many times to acquire data about the chemical and mineralogical composition of the lunar surface. ESA had also used the mission to test deep-space communications techniques, autonomous spacecraft–navigation techniques, and other innovative technologies, such as an ion- propulsion engine and various miniaturized instruments.
ESA, “Impact Landing Ends SMART-1 Mission to the Moon,” news release 31-2006, 3 September 2006, http://www.esa.int/esaCP/Pr_31_2006_p_EN.html (accessed 16 April 2010); Nic Fleming, “The Dust Settles After Europe Lands a Mission on the Moon,” Daily Telegraph (London), 4 September 2006.
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