A decade - tenacious lunar mystery has in conclusion been work out . artificial satellite imaging of the surface of the moon hasrevealed the final resting placeof the European Space Agency ’s first lunar satellite , SMART-1 , include the gouge it made as it get onto across the surface and the spray of material when it in conclusion came to a stop .
Launched in 2003,SMART-1was in effect a bit of a dago hog satellite , being the first such machine to leave the reach of Earth and glide to the moonshine using nothing but solar power . After its 13 - month trip , it gather 3D images of the moon ’s pockmark surface and readings of the chemical elements in the lunar rocks , before being deliberately crashed in 2006 . Since then , piffling has been get laid about its fate .
As Bernard Foing , the then task scientist for SMART-1,explains : “ SMART-1 had a hard , pasture and recoil landing at two kilometre [ 1.2 miles ] per moment on the surface of the moonlight . ” But even though the impact was caught on television camera by the Canada - France - Hawaii Telecope ( CFHT ) , there were no other spacecraft orbiting the moon to give a detailed view of it .
“ Finding the precise positioning became a ' cold case ' for more than 10 years,”continuesFoing . “ For this ' Crash Scene Investigation ' , we used all potential Earth witnesses , experimental facts and computer models to identify the exact site and have in conclusion found the scar . ”
By using high - resolution image postulate from NASA ’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter , they were able to identify the markings and scratches on the moon logical with the medium - sized satellite acrobatics across the open . The pictures show a straight gouge just about 4 meters ( 13 feet ) wide and 20 beat ( 66 foundation ) long cross a humble crater .
At the oddment of this groove , they are even able to see a fan of white ejecta about 7 meters ( 23 feet ) across . This matches with the expected impact of the object , as it skidded across the moon before bouncing slightly , and finally coming to rest . The spraying of ejecta are thought to be about 40 meters ( 130 feet ) in length .
The shock spot is incredibly closelipped to where the small blink of an eye of impingement was imaged over a decade ago , and consistent with those forecast when it was be after , but now the case has finally been put to rest with the photographic grounds .
“ The next steps will be to send a machinelike investigator to examine the corpse of the SMART-1 spacecraft body and ' wing ' of the solar arrays,”saysFoing , although to escort ESA do not really have any plans to air a rover to the moon , so we may have to wait a while .
