First Moon Shot in Many Moons is On the Way

It's the first time anyone but Americans or Soviets have tried to reach the Moon, and, not surprisingly, it's a European effort.

Saturday morning, the Kourou launch station in French Guiana saw an Ariane-5 make a spectacular launch, starting a long trip that will set a couple satellites into Earth orbit, and one 815-pound probe, that's going to check out the moon, starting in late December of next year.

The INSAT 3-E, India's satellite, and France's Eutelsat are the Earth-orbiting projects. They'll be on-station 'way sooner.

The moon probe, called SMART-1, will meander quite a bit in that time, covering 62 million miles, to reach the moon, which is a quarter-million miles away. The reason it's taking so long is to save fuel -- the trip will be made with about 16 gallons of the precious stuff. [In a straight line, with planetary alignments just so, 62 million miles of travel could get you to Mars --ed.]

Electric power to the moon, Mars, and beyond?

SMART-1 will be propelled mostly by electricity, powered by solar panels, according to Giuseppe RACCA, the ESA Project Manager. David Southwood, ESA's Director of Scientific Programs, told a news conference in Kourou, "With SMART-1 we can test propulsion in deep-space orbit. The next step, I hope, will be a Mars mission."

Who's next to Space? Red China; they have a military project that demands space dominance; a manned program is an integral part of that scheme.

FMI: www.ssc.se/ssd/smart1.html