By the time SMART-1 had settled into its operational orbit around the Moon in March 2005 its exeprimental ion engine had only 7 kilograms of propellant left (bottled xenon gas) out of the 84 kilograms available at launch. This fuel allowed orbital boosts, but was not sufficient for a Moon escape.

Credits: ESA - AOES Medialab

The expected coordinate for impact are 36.44º south of latitude and 46.25º west of longitude.. The impact site will be on the lunar area called ‘Lake of Excellence’, located at mid-southern latitudes. This area is very interesting from the scientific point of view. It is a volcanic plane area surrounded by highlands, but also characterised by ground heterogeneities.

Credits: ESA - C. Carreau

AMIE obtained the images on 18 March 2006 from distances between 1257 and 1213 kilometres from the surface, with a ground resolution ranging between 114 and 110 metres per pixel. The imaged area is centred at about 21º East longitude and 18º North latitude. The separate images can be downloaded here [ AMI_EAE3_002082_00001_00016.JPG, AMI_EAE3_002082_00002_00016.JPG, AMI_EAE3_002082_00003_00015.JPG]

Mare Serenitatis is one of the lunar maria, that are vast lava plains on the lunar surface. It formed between 3.9 and 3.8 thousand million years ago, a period in which the Moon was heavily bombarded by asteroids and the major impact basins on the Moon were formed.

Credits: ESA/Space-X (Space Exploration Institute)