SMART-1: the Moon from ESA
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0-SMART-1.jpgSMART-1 and the Moon93 visiteThe solar electric primary propulsion on-board SMART-1 is a Stationary Plasma Hall-effect thruster, the PPS-1350 developed by SNECMA, France. Using Xenon gas as propellant and the power from the spacecraft's solar arrays, the thruster is capable of providing a thrust of something like 70 milliNewtons. Using the thrust of the electric propulsion system, SMART-1 progressively expanded its orbit, spiralling out from Earth and was caught by the Moon's gravitational field on 15 November 2004, nearly 14 months after launch. In order to enhance the capture opportunities and to save precious fuel, SMART-1 also made use of celestial mechanics, including Moon resonances and swing-bys. The spacecraft exploited the unstable regions of space where the gravity field of Earth and Moon compete and which are normally avoided by conventional trajectories. It passed through the L1 point of the Earth-Moon System which allowed for the spacecraft to be caught by the Moon's gravity.
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00-Closing-in-on-theMoon410.jpgThe Moon, from 600.000 and 60.000 Km!95 visiteLa Luna: non ci siamo dimenticati della Luna, anzi! Da oggi, 26 Aprile 2005, inizieremo a raccontarVi la "Luna Dimenticata" (o quasi...) attraverso le immagini che ci arrivano dalla Sonda ESA SMART-1.
Individueremo nuove "Singolarità"?
Incontreremo nuovi enigmi?
La Luna è davvero (e solo) "...del padiglion del ciel, la Gran Frittata..."?!?
Staremo a vedere...
Caption ESA originale."These 2 images show the Moon as seen by SMART-1 during the approach phase. The image on the left was taken on 28 October 2004, at a distance of about 600.000 Km from the Moon, when the spacecraft was in its last orbit around the Earth. The image on the right was taken on 12 November 2004, about 15 days later, at a distance of about 60.000 Km. At that time, the Moon was facing the Earth with its unlit side (new Moon).
The slightly illuminated part at the top of the Moon (right image) shows a 'slice' of the Moon's far side at about the latitude of the Lunar North Pole. The North Pole far side is seen for the first time by a European spacecraft, and only for the second time in the history of lunar exploration".
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00-SMART1.jpgSMART-1 and the Moon78 visiteSMART-1's science payload, with a total mass of some 15 Kg, features many innovative instruments and advanced technologies. These are:
- AMIE, a miniaturised HR camera for Lunar Surface imaging;
- SIR, a Near-Infrared Point-Spectrometer for Lunar mineralogy investigation;
- D-CIXS, a very compact X-ray Spectrometer with a new type of detector and micro-collimator which will provide fluorescence spectroscopy and imagery of the Moon's surface elemental composition;
- XSM, an X-ray monitor to support D-CIXS by providing measurements of solar X-ray emission for calibration:
- KaTE, an experiment aimed at demonstrating deep-space telemetry and telecommand communications in the X and Ka-bands;
- RSIS, a Radio-Science Experiment relying on KaTE. It monitors the electric propulsion by means of tracking techniques. In lunar orbit it will, with AMIE, also study the Moon's libration.
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01-P-SMART1-hires_34602.jpgThe Moon from SMART-1: a little geography97 visiteCaption ESA originale:"On 29 January 2004, between 20:00 and 21:19 UT, images of the first quarter moon were taken through several filters by the AMIE instrument. The result is a small, but impressive, image revealing, clockwise from the top: Mare Serenitatis, Mare Tranquillitatis, Mare Fecunditatis and Mare Nectaris, with Mare Crisium also visible near the limb".
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01-SMART-1%20northpole29Dec4.jpgThe "North Pole" of the Moon133 visiteCaption ESA originale:"This image was taken by the AMIE camera on board SMART-1 on 29 December 2004 from a distance of 5.500 Km.
It shows an area, 275 Km across, of heavily cratered highland terrain close to the Lunar North Pole (upper left corner).
The image is used to monitor illumination of the polar areas, and long shadows cast by large crater rims".
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02-NorthPole.jpgThe "North Pole" of the Moon141 visiteCaption ESA originale:"This image was taken by the AMIE camera on board SMART-1 on 19 January 2005 (close to the northern winter solstice) from a distance of 5000 Km.
The image shows an area 250 Km wide near the Lunar North Pole.
The illuminated part of the crater rim at the top of the image is very close to the Lunar North Pole and is a candidate for a peak of eternal sunlight".
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03-PythagorasCrater-1.jpgPythagoras Crater153 visiteCaption ESA originale:"This mosaic view of Pythagoras is composed of images taken by the AMIE camera during two successive orbits on 29 and 30 December 2004 from an altitude of ~ 4000 Km.
Pythagoras is a 120 km diameter complex large Lunar Crater characterized by a relatively flat crater floor, a central peak and terraced walls.
The terraced walls height reaches 5000 mt."
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04-CopernicusCrater-LO5.jpgThe "Peaks" of Eternal Sun-light (1)235 visite"If we can confirm peaks of eternal light", says Bernard Foing, SMART-1 Project Scientist, "these could be a key locations for possible future lunar outposts". The existence of peaks of eternal light at the poles, that is areas that remain eternally illuminated regardless of seasonal variations, was first predicted in the second half of the nineteenth century by the astronomer Camille Flammarion.
Even if for most of the Moon the length of the day does not vary perceptibly during the course of seasons, this is not the case over the poles, where illumination can vary extensively during the course of the year. The less favourable illumination conditions occur around the Northern Winter Solstice, around 24 January. There are areas at the bottom of near-polar craters that do not see direct sunshine, where ice might potentially be trapped. Also there are areas at higher elevation on the rim of Polar craters that see the Sun more than half of the time. Eventually, there may be areas that are always illuminated!".
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05-CopernicusHD.jpgThe "Peaks" of Eternal Sun-light (2)210 visiteAstronomers say they have identified a place on the Moon that lies in permanent Sunlight and close to regions suspected to hold water ice: in short, an ideal location for a tentative Lunar Colony.
The spot is located on a highland close to the Lunar North Pole, between 3 large impact craters called Peary, Hermite and Rozhdestvensky (report in Thursday's issue of Nature, the British weekly Science Journal).
The temperature there is estimated to range between -40 and
-60°C, which by Lunar Standards is relatively balmy and stable.
By comparison, the temperature on the Moon's equator ranges from -180°C to +100°C!
Since the area is bathed in perpetual Sun-light, a future human outpost on the Moon could draw on abundant solar energy and,
in addition, the Lunar Pioneers could tap into supplies of water if (as some Scientists speculate) ice lurks in permanently shadowed craters at the Lunar Poles. The study is lead-authored by Ben Bussey of Johns Hopkins University, Maryland.
In January 2004, President George W. Bush sketched plans for a US return to the Moon as early as 2015, saying a lunar base would be a launch pad for manned missions to Mars and "across our Solar System".
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06-Smart-1_waning-Earth.jpgWaning Earth, from SMART-1101 visiteTerra "calante", vista dallo Spazio: ecco una serie di spettacolari fotogrammi ad HD che provengono dalla Sonda ESA "SMART-1". Tra i compiti maggiori di questa piccola Sonda c'è, a detta del Centro Controllo Missione, quello di fornire una mappatura ultra-dettagliata della superficie Lunare, alla ricerca di qualche "posto buono" per la creazione di insediamenti umani permanenti (o, se preferite, di "Colonie Lunari").
I "picchi della Luce Eterna", ad esempio (un'espressione davvero suggestiva per indicare alcune zone della Luna, situate a ridosso dei Poli, le quali potrebbero essere perennemente illuminate dalla luce del Sole), fanno parte dei posti (teoricamente) buoni per pensare ad un insediamento permanente efficace.
E per il sostentamento?
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07-Smart-1_lunar-eclipse_family-portrait.jpgMother Earth and a Lunar Eclypse from Space109 visiteIl sostentamento di una Colonia Lunare (o Marziana, o posta su qualsiasi altro corpo celeste diverso dalla Terra) è, viste le nostre caratteristiche biologiche, le tecnologie disponibili ed i fabbisogni energetici, legato alla possibilità di avere "acqua" a disposizione.
E allora c'è acqua sulla Luna? Forse si ed infatti, accanto a queste zone di luce eterna, ve ne potrebbero essere altre - magari poste sul fondo di grandi crateri - in cui regna il buio eterno e, di conseguenza, il gelo eterno. Un'oscurità ed un gelo perpetui assolutamente necessari affinchè alcune zone della Luna possano essere state capaci di catturare e conservare, attraverso le ere, il ghiaccio d'acqua portato sul nostro Satellite, p.e., dalle comete che lo impattarono.
Bisogna quindi trovare dei "Giacimenti di ghiaccio d'acqua": ecco la chiave di volta per arrivare, in tempi ragionevoli, alla creazione di insediamenti umani permanenti sulla Luna e Marte, i primi due 'outpost' del Genere Umano nel Sistema Solare.
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08-AMIEmosaic-291204.jpgGioja, Mouchez, Poncelet, Carpenter and Pythagoras108 visiteUn bellissimo foto-mosaico (purtroppo una delle pochissime immagini ad oggi disponibili della Luna 'vista' dalla Sonda Europea SMART-1) che ci mostra una serie di interessanti e relativamente famosi crateri - su tutti il Cratere Pitagora - ripresi da una distanza di circa 4000 Km.
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