EU: The European Space Agency (ESA) is toasting its success in delivering the first European satellite into lunar orbit, writes Dick Ahlstrom, Science Editor
The SMART-1 spacecraft has begun a series of manoeuvres that will bring it into a tight orbit around the moon by early January when it then begins intensive observations of the lunar surface.
The small satellite, which is about the size of a washing machine, has begun a four-day engine "burn" that will gradually drop the spacecraft into an orbit at altitudes ranging from 3,000 km to just 300 kilometres. Its mission is to study the lunar surface, providing an inventory of the moon's chemical content.
The information should help prove the theory that the moon and earth are made of the same stuff, evidence the moon was formed after a small planet collided with a very young earth billions of years ago.
SMART-1 (Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology) is also an important test of new technologies that allow lighter, cheaper spacecraft to be launched for missions to the planets. ESA launched the satellite from Kourou, French Guiana, on September 27th, 2003.