Europe is on its way to the moon! On the night of the 27/28 September an Ariane 5 launcher successfully placed ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft into geostationary transfer orbit at the start of its mission to our closest neighbour. SMART-1 will travel to the moon where it will carry out scientific studies and test key technologies for future space missions.
The programme provides an updated overview of the Smart-1 mission, including launch highlights and an overview of its operations.
This Exchange comprises of a 5 minute A-roll with split audio (English commentary/international sound) and is complimented by a 8-minute B-Roll with clean international sound.

SMART-1 EN ROUTE TO THE MOON!
00:41
Europe is on its way to the moon! The journey began with the successful launch of an Ariane 5 from Kourou, French Guiana, during the night of the 27-28 September 2003. Perched on top of the launcher as one of 3 payloads the European Space AgencyÕs SMART-1 spacecraft was placed into an elliptical geostationary transfer orbit. From this starting position it will spend about 16 months in a slow spiraling trajectory towards our closest neighbour, and upon arrival will be captured by the moons gravitational field in January 2005.
01:31
SMART-1, an abbreviation for 'Small Missions for Advanced Research and Technology' is the first of a series of ESA projects designed to test key technologies for the spacecraft of the future. Together with this SMART-1 carries a number of instruments that will carry out studies of the lunar surface.
01:50
In the case of this first pioneering mission the technologies being tested are twofold. The primary objective is to test the