SMART-1’s View of the Middle East
Now more than 100 000 kilometres away from Earth, ESA’s Moon-bound spacecraft SMART-1 looked back at Earth and returned this planetary perspective of the Middle East and Mediterranean Sea.
‘Smart’ usage of the solar-electric propulsion system (the ion engine) has saved a lot of fuel and the spacecraft will get to the Moon earlier than expected.
Almost 20 kilograms of the xenon fuel could be saved out of the original 84 kilograms, which could then be used to get closer to the Moon than planned, to within distances of between 300 and 3000 kilometres. This will give a coverage of the lunar surface at higher resolution and sensitivity.
Original Source: ESA News Release
Recent Posts
Space Tourism: The Good, The Bad, The Meh
Space tourism here is here to stay, and will likely remain a permanent fixture of…
New Study Examines Cosmic Expansion, Leading to a New Drake Equation
In 1960, in preparation for the first SETI conference, Cornell astronomer Frank Drake formulated an…
Pentagon’s Latest UFO Report Identifies Hotspots for Sightings
The Pentagon office in charge of fielding UFO reports says that it has resolved 118…
A New Way to Detect Daisy Worlds
The Daisy World model describes a hypothetical planet that self-regulates, maintaining a delicate balance involving…
Two Supermassive Black Holes on the Verge of a Merger
Researchers have been keeping an eye on the center of a galaxy located about a…
Interferometry Will Be the Key to Resolving Exoplanets
When it comes to telescopes, bigger really is better. A larger telescope brings with it…