Categories: Missions

ESA Plans Another Look at the Moon

The European Space Agency is working on a new spacecraft that will visit the Moon and map its surface in great detail. The SMART-1, due for launch in 2003 will arrive at the Moon and begin a detailed analysis of the surface from different angles, in regular light, infrared and X-ray and then produce a three-dimensional map. Smart-1 will visit the dark southern pole of the Moon for the first time and help investigate areas which have never been touched by the Sun.

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast with Dr. Pamela Gay. Here's a link to my Mastodon account.

Recent Posts

Insanely Detailed Webb Image of the Horsehead Nebula

Few space images are as iconic as those of the Horsehead Nebula. Its shape makes…

9 hours ago

Binary Stars Form in the Same Nebula But Aren’t Identical. Now We Know Why.

It stands to reason that stars formed from the same cloud of material will have…

11 hours ago

Earth Had a Magnetosphere 3.7 Billion Years Ago

We go about our daily lives sheltered under an invisible magnetic field generated deep inside…

12 hours ago

Astronomers Think They’ve Found Examples of the First Stars in the Universe

When the first stars in the Universe formed, the only material available was primordial hydrogen…

14 hours ago

First Light from Einstein Probe: A Supernova Remnant

On 9 January 2024, the Einstein probe was launched, its mission to study the night…

1 day ago

Galaxies Evolved Surprisingly Quickly in the Early Universe

Anyone familiar with astronomy will know that galaxies come in a fairly limited range of…

1 day ago