SMART-1 Enters Lunar Orbit
16 Nov 2004 At 17:48 UT, 15 November 2004 the SMART-1 spacecraft encountered its first perilune. After 332 orbits around the Earth the ion drive was fired at 05:24 UT, 15 November, to bring the spacecraft into lunar orbit.
Over the next few months the engine will be fired repeatedly to lower the spacecraft into an operational orbit of 3000 x 300 km. This should be achieved by 13 January 2005.
Further details on the manoeuvre can be found at the ESA Media Centre
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Last Update: 16 Aug 2006
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