European probe smashes into Moon after successful mission [View All]

[tocqueville]

by Guy Clavel and Richard Ingham
1 hour, 23 minutes ago

PARIS (AFP) - One of the most innovative missions in space exploration has come to a dramatic close as Europe's first probe to the Moon crashed into the lunar surface giving stargazers around the world an astronomical fireworks display.

The European Space Agency's (ESA) revolutionary probe known as SMART-1 smashed into a plain called the Lake of Excellence on the southwestern side of the Moon's face, "producing a more intense flash than expected", the mission's chief scientist Bernard Foing said from ESA's base in Darmstadt, Germany.

The craft's suicide ride was watched live via a French-Canadian telescope based in Hawaii as it plunged to the surface on schedule at 0542 GMT at a speed of two kilometres per second (7,200 kmph), throwing up a cloud of dust.

Approaching with "a very shallow trajectory", SMART-1 "bounced on the surface, creating a kind of fireworks display that was brighter than if it had plunged straight down onto the lunar surface," Foing said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060903/ts_afp/spacemooneurope_060903104720

more here

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/index.html