Lunar Probe Strikes Moon

“We’re very happy and very excited, the team is rejoicing,” said SMART-1 project scientist Bernard Foing, speaking from the mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

SMART-1 had been orbiting and studying the Moon since late 2005 and would have crashed onto the Moon anyway. So near the end of the mission controllers tweaked its orbit so it would crash on the nearside of the Moon where the impact would be visible to ground-based telescopes.

Early indications are that several ground-based observatories in western North America spotted the impact. Astronomers at the 3.6-metre Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, reported seeing an unexpectedly bright infrared flash.

Scientists are now pooling and analysing their data. That should reveal whether the spacecraft, which grazed onto the lunar surface at an angle of just 1°, ricocheted off it again. They will release their preliminary findings on Monday.

Based on the CFHT observations, Foing expects that many skilled amateur astronomers should also have seen the event. It would have been visible from Australia across the Pacific to central North and South America.

The spacecraft hit the Moon at about 7200 kilometres per hour and should have gouged out a crater 5 to 10 metres wide. Scientists hope the impact observations will reveal the chemical make-up of the rock and dust ejected by the impact.

Over the next few days, astronomers will also look for the blanket of ejecta that is settling back down to the lunar surface, possibly covering an area of about 1 square kilometre.

SMART-1 orbited the Moon more than 2000 times and mapped the mineralogy of the lunar surface. That will help scientists piece together the history of the Moon. But the orbiter's main purpose was to test new technologies, including an innovative engine that nudged the spacecraft through space by expelling xenon ions.

“It really is a great accomplishment for ESA to have flown this successful technology demonstration and science mission, and it went out with a bang,” said Bruce Betts from the Planetary Society at a press conference in Pasadena, California, US.

Source: New Scientist Space