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Probe to boldly take European mission to the moon

Posted on: Tuesday, 19 August 2003, 06:00 CDT

THE future of space travel will arrive in a fortnight's time when Star Trek technology drives Europe's first mission to the moon.

The SMART-1 probe will spend its indefinite lifetime in orbit, skimming above the lunar surface to beam back information about the moon's origins and composition.

However, it is also the test flight for a range of propulsion, navigation, and communications equipment that could shape future travel into deep space.

Due to be launched from Kourou in French Guiana at 12.04am, British time, on September 4, the tiny moon explorer, the size of a small washing machine, will be powered by an ion engine using solar electric propulsion.

The most famous spaceships in science fiction, including James T Kirk's Starship Enterprise and the Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey, were both powered by such engines.

Ion-powered engines will become the future of space flight, the European Space Agency, which is launching the craft, said yesterday.

The engines are 10 times more efficient than conventional rocket- fuelled ones, and could slash years from interplanetary journeys.

The probe's engine uses solar panels that convert sunlight into thrust. The light is converted into electricity, which is then used to convert xenon gas atoms into ions.

This tiny matter is then thrust out of the engine at high speed, providing propulsion.

As the ESA's first Small Mission for Advanced Research in Technology, SMART-1 will perform an unprecedented scientific study of the Earth's only natural satellite, shedding light on some of the questions that remain unanswered even after six manned missions and a series of unmanned probes.

The spacecraft is expected to arrive over the moon in January 2005, providing data on the still uncertain nature of the moon.

Sir Patrick Moore, the presenter of BBC's Sky At Night, said: "It is an interesting and very important mission and an essential step towards our exploration of the moon. We may have been there, but there's a lot we do not know about it.

"It is also a pioneering method of propulsion. Ion propulsion is a means of space travel for the future. This is a pioneering vessel, smart in every way."

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