We Go back to the Moon tonight, after 32 Years
Posted by Mike Kremer on Sep 27, 2003 at 17:31
(62.188.48.74)Smart 1, ...Europes very first satellite is being launched by an Ariana rocket from British Guiana tonight.
If it gets there it will produce an X-ray map of the Moons surface, in an attempt to discover precisely how it was made.
I say if..it gets there, because it uses no rocket, just a tiny ion engine as its only propellant.
The thrust it produces is only equivalent to the pressure exerted by a sheet of paper held in the palm of a hand
But over a long period, it can make a spacecraft travel significantly faster, and far longer than a chemical rocket, ultimately, giving it the ability to travel across the universe at high speed.
Smart 1 will take a year and a half to get to the Moon, as against the 23 hours using a conventional rocket. But its unique propellant system is being watched closely by NASA and the rest of the world.
Follow Ups:
- Re: We Go back to the Moon tonight, after 32 Years Uncle Al 27/9 18:17 (9)
- Re: We Go back to the Moon tonight, after 32 Years Mike Kremer 27/9 19:56 (0)
- Re: We Go back to the Moon tonight, after 32 Years paul 27/9 18:52 (7)
- Re: We Go back to the Moon tonight, after 32 Years a real person 30/9 11:38 (6)
- Re: We Go back to the Moon tonight, after 32 Years paul 30/9 13:26 (5)
- Re: We Go back to the Moon tonight, after 32 Years a real person 01/10 16:55 (1)
- Re: We Go back to the Moon tonight, after 32 Years paul 02/10 12:30 (0)
- One word... Measurement 30/9 15:12 (2)
- Re: One word... Amaranth Rose 01/10 13:24 (0)
- Get yer ass to mars..................... Who decides ? 30/9 17:00 (0)