SMART-1 towards final impact

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SMART-1 first orbits the Earth in ever-increasing ellipses. When it reaches the Moon its orbit is altered by the Moons gravitational field. It uses a number of these lunar gravity assist manoeuvres to position itself for entering orbit around the Moo ...
SMART-1 first orbits the Earth in ever-increasing ellipses. When it reaches the Moon, its orbit is altered by the Moon's gravitational field. It uses a number of these lunar 'gravity assist' manoeuvres to position itself for entering orbit around the Moon. Credits: AOES Medialab, ESA 2002

SMART-1, the successful first European spacecraft to the Moon, is now about to end its exploration adventure, after almost sixteen months of lunar science investigations. SMART-1 was launched on 27 September 2003, and it reached the Moon in November 2004 after a long spiralling around Earth. In this phase, the spacecraft tested for the first time in space a series of advanced technologies.


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