The Swedish Space Corporation and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed a €33 million ($32.9 million) contract to develop the Small Advanced Research and Technology 1 (Smart 1) science and technology demonstration spacecraft. Smart 1 will be launched to the moon in about 2003.
The Smart series of small European spacecraft will prepare ESA for future missions, demonstrating innovative and key technologies, using common spacecraft platforms and equipment for maximum efficiency and cost savings.
Using the moon as its target, Smart 1 will demonstrate how ion propulsion could propel a future craft into orbit around the planet Mercury, the largely unexplored inner planet of the solar system.
The Smart 1 solar electric propulsion demonstration will mean Europe will not be dependent on the USA for this major new technology. The craft will also demonstrate other new technologies, including an autonomous star tracker and a miniature imaging camera.
Other instruments to observe the lunar surface include an infrared spectrometer for planetary geology, an imaging X-ray spectrometer for surface elemental composition, and space plasma instruments.
Smart 1 will be placed into a geostationary transfer orbit and will fire the xenon ion propulsion system to gradually increase the orbit. After about 200 days in space, its flightpath will rendezvous with the moon and the craft will enter orbit around it naturally under the influence of lunar gravity.
Source: Flight International
