A Different Approach to Project Procurement

The SMART-1 Mission

G.D. Racca, G.P. Whitcomb & B.H. Foing

The SMART-1 mission, to be launched at the end of 2001, is intended to demonstrate innovative and key technologies for deep-space scientific missions. Its use, for example, of solar electric propulsion as its primary drive mechanism will be a first for Europe and is essential in paving the way for future ESA projects with large velocity requirements, such as the Mercury Cornerstone mission. SMART-1 will also be a test case for a new approach in terms of implementation strategy and spacecraft procurement for the ESA Science Programme.
The total life-cost budget allocated to SMART-1 is 50 MECU. This budget constraint imposes use of a cheap launch option, such as an Ariane-5 auxiliary payload launch into a standard GTO or a Rockot escape-trajectory launch. This in turn limits the planetary bodies that can be reached within a given short (1.5 - 2 year) overall mission lifetime, which do, however, include the Moon and Earth-crossing asteroids or comets.

The mission is presently under Phase-B definition by the Swedish Space Corporation. The funding of the mission is being used to compensate Sweden and Switzerland for the deficits in their industrial returns. The mission is expected to be funded partly by France and the United Kingdom, which presently have an industrial-return surplus. The Directorate of Industrial Matters and Technology Programmes, via the Technology Research Programme, and the Directorate of Scientific Programmes would provide the remainder of the funding, within agreed limits. The mission would thus effectively be a partnership between ESA and the participating Member States.