What makes SMART-1 special?
• It is the first European mission to the Moon. • It will perform one of the most comprehensive ‘global’ explorations of the Moon so far, using state-of-the-art instrumentation, and will therefore gather data to answer long-standing scientific questions. • It is a step towards more ambitious, future space exploration. Future space missions will rely on the technologies tested with SMART-1. • It has been built very quickly (in less than four years) and for about one-fifth of the cost of a major science mission for ESA. Why does SMART-1 represent a breakthrough in planetary exploration? SMART-1 is the first European spacecraft to use an ion engine as a main propulsion system, however it introduces an additional challenge – to go to Moon, the spacecraft combines for the first time ever solar-electric propulsion with manoeuvres using the gravity of celestial bodies. Engineers will therefore have to consider the gravity of Earth and the Moon at each stage of the journey, and adjust accordin
