Eur all going to the moon!

[Jon_in_london]

Jolly good, mission to the moon seems to be going well so far.

The Smart 1 probe blasted off from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana at 2314 GMT.

Watch the launch
Forty-two minutes later, ground controllers said the spacecraft had been released successfully from its Ariane 5 rocket launcher and was on its correct course.

Do you lot think this ion-drive is going to be a success?

 

[DanishDynamite]

Jon_in_London:

Do you lot think this ion-drive is going to be a success?

The principle is sound. Let's just hope the engineering is likewise.

 

[slimshady2357]

Any links for this stuff? I'd like to read up on it more

Adam

(Ok, I'll google it )

 

[wollery]

I'm impressed already, the Arianne launch vehicle didn't blow up!

 

[Nucular]

As long as the warp coils stay online, everything should be fine.

Nice to see the ESA doing something groundbreaking.

 

[Michael Redman]

Jon_in_London: The principle is sound. Let's just hope the engineering is likewise.

It's proven, too. NASA launched an ion drive craft 5 years ago. http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/ds1/

Or is this something different?

 

[DanishDynamite]

It's proven, too. NASA launched an ion drive craft 5 years ago. http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/ds1/

Or is this something different?

No, it's the same principle.

From ESA's Smart 1 factsheet:

This is only the second time that ion propulsion has been used as a mission's primary propulsion system (the first was NASA's Deep Space 1 probe launched in October 1998).

 

[davidhorman]

It's proven, too. NASA launched an ion drive craft 5 years ago.

A few weeks ago I tried to find out where Deep Space One was now, and what speed it was travelling at, but I had no luck. Anyone got any ideas where to look for that kind of information?

David