Europe arrives at the Moon
SMART-1, the European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft, has entered into orbit around the Moon, being the first European vessel to do so. In January, SMART-1 will begin scientific observations. The main purpose of the mission, however, was to demonstrate new spacecraft technologies, and in particular the spacecraft's solar-electric propulsion system. For the first time ever, gravity-assist manoeuvres, which involve using the gravitational pull of the approaching Moon, were performed by an electrically propelled spacecraft. SMART-1 has thus demonstrated new techniques that could lead to autonomous spacecraft navigation. SMART-1 has also already carried out deep-space communication tests with the KaTE and RSIS experiments. These involved testing radio transmissions at frequencies much higher than traditional radio frequencies. Such transmissions will allow the transfer of increasing volumes of scientific data from future spacecraft. With the Laser Link experiment, the craft also tested the feasibility of pointing a laser beam from Earth at a spacecraft moving at deep-space distances. From January, when SMART-1 begins its lunar science phase, it will operate four miniaturised instruments being used for the first time in space: a camera, two x-ray instruments and an infrared spectrometer. The instruments will be used to comprehensively map the chemical elements on the Moon's surface, and will help scientists test theories of its birth and evolution, including the popular belief that the Moon was created when an asteroid hit the Earth.