Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Jan 26, 2005 16:37:11 GMT -6
With the great news of Cassini-Huygens, the Rovers and news about the fate of the Hubble, we have seemed to forget that there are other concurring space missions exploring beyond Earth.
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Summary - (Jan 26, 2005) The ESA's SMART-1 has taken its first close-up pictures of the Moon's surface, snapping a series of photos from an altitude ranging between 1,000 and 5,000 km above the lunar surface. SMART-1 only entered lunar orbit on November 15, and has been spiraling down for two months. The spacecraft will make a medium-resolution survey of the Moon for the next two weeks before lowering its orbit to begin 5 months of detailed observations, getting as close as 300 km. This first image is centred at lunar latitude 75° North, and the largest crater in the picture is called Brianchon.
More Info here from Universe Today: www.universetoday.com/am/publish/smart1_first_moon.html?2612005
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Now what I would like to see with this spacecraft, is to image the lunar landing sites from orbit. If we can image the landing sites on Mars, we certainly can for the Apollos. I read where the Hubble could not image the site because that the Moon was too bright and too close for proper imaging. Well, now we have an alternative.
This will shut up the hoax conspiracies...or will it?
SMART-1 is now in orbit around the Moon, taking excellent images of the surface.
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Summary - (Jan 26, 2005) The ESA's SMART-1 has taken its first close-up pictures of the Moon's surface, snapping a series of photos from an altitude ranging between 1,000 and 5,000 km above the lunar surface. SMART-1 only entered lunar orbit on November 15, and has been spiraling down for two months. The spacecraft will make a medium-resolution survey of the Moon for the next two weeks before lowering its orbit to begin 5 months of detailed observations, getting as close as 300 km. This first image is centred at lunar latitude 75° North, and the largest crater in the picture is called Brianchon.
More Info here from Universe Today: www.universetoday.com/am/publish/smart1_first_moon.html?2612005
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Now what I would like to see with this spacecraft, is to image the lunar landing sites from orbit. If we can image the landing sites on Mars, we certainly can for the Apollos. I read where the Hubble could not image the site because that the Moon was too bright and too close for proper imaging. Well, now we have an alternative.
This will shut up the hoax conspiracies...or will it?
