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欧“智能1号”飞船成功撞月 [ 2006-09-04 14:26 ] Europe's firstspacecraft to the moon ended its three-year mission Sunday by crashinginto the lunar surface in a volcanic plain called the Lake of Excellence,to a round of applause in the mission control room in Germany.Hitting at 2 kilometers per second, the impact of the SMART-1spacecraft was expected to leave a 3-meter-by-10-meter crater and senddust kilometers above the surface.Observatories watched theevent from Earth and scientists hoped the cloud of dust and debris wouldprovide clues to the geological composition of the site."That's it -- we are in the Lake of Excellence," said spacecraftoperations chief Octavio Camino as applause broke out in mission controlin Darmstadt, Germany. "We have landed."Minutes later, officials showed off a picture captured by anobservatory in Hawaii displaying a bright flash from the impact.Launched into Earth's orbit by an Ariane-5 booster rocket from Kourou,French Guiana, in September 2003, SMART-1 used its ion engine to slowlyraise its orbit over 14 months until the moon's gravity grabbed it.The engine, which uses electricity from the craft's solar panels toproduce a stream of charged particles called ions, generates only smallamounts of thrust but only needed 80 kilograms of xenon fuel.The craft's X-ray and infrared spectrometers have gathered informationabout the moon's geology that scientists hope will advance their knowledgeabout how the moon's surface evolved and test theories about how the mooncame into being.The spacecraft has also been taking high-resolution pictures of the surface witha miniaturized camera. (Agencies) | 
