SMART-1, less the fuel it consumed on its lazy corkscrew path to the Moon by ion drive, weighed only 300 some kilos. Of that 19 kilos comprised the set of seven instruments, some flown for the very first time, that would add invaluable new data mapping the Moon’s surface for key elements, notably calcium, and finding in that data confirming evidence about the Moon’s origins.
But the SMART-1 Mission Team controllers were smart themselves. They found a way to turn the rest of the probes bulk mass into a unique instrument as well.
Click on the linked report above to read more about impact/splashout science.
SMART stands for “Small Missions for Advanced Research and Technology”
Amen to that!
from Peter Kokh
Link: http://strabo.moonsociety.org/reports/smart-1impact.html