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SMART-1 ion engine fired successfully
1 October 2003
SMART-1's revolutionary propulsion system was successfully fired at 12:25
UT
on 30 September, 2003, in orbit around the Earth.
Engineers at ESOC, the European Space Agency's control centre in Darmstadt,
Germany, sent a command to begin the firing test, which lasted for one hour.
This was similar to a trial performed on Earth before SMART-1 was
launched.
Several months ago, the ion engine, or Solar Electric Primary Propulsion
(SEPP) system, had been placed in a vacuum chamber on the ground and its
functions and operation were measured. Now in space and in a true vacuum,
the
ion engine actually worked better than in the test on ground and has nudged
SMART-1 a little closer to the Moon.
This is the first time that Europe flies an electric primary propulsion in
space, and also the first European use of this particular type of ion
engine,
called a 'Hall-effect' thruster.
The SEPP consists of a single ion engine fuelled by xenon gas and powered by
solar energy. The ion engine will accelerate SMART-1 very gradually to cause
the spacecraft to travel in a series of spiralling orbits - each revolution
slightly further away from the Earth - towards the Moon. Once captured by
the Moon's gravity, SMART-1 will move into ever-closer orbits of the Moon.
As part of one of the overall mission objectives to test this new SEPP
technology, the data will now be analysed to see how much acceleration was
achieved and how smoothly the spacecraft travelled. If the ion engine is
performing to expectations, ESA engineers will regularly power up
the SEPP to send SMART-1 on its way.
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SMART-1
