Description
The ESA SMART-1 spacecraft reached its end of life (EOL) in Sept. 2006, when it was deliberately crashed into the Moon at 2 km/s [1-5]. ESA chose this EOL strategy as a reasonable way to end the mission and remove the spacecraft from the environment. Given that cis-lunar space will be increasingly populated with spacecraft (and associated upper stages etc.), it can be assumed that more EOL events will be required to avoid polluting that space. The demise of SMART-1 will be discussed, as an aid to understanding what happens in an EOL event where the spacecraft impacts the Moon. Not only is a crater formed, but an impact light flash occurs, a dust plume rises, and ejecta is throw away from the impact site. Indeed, if the impact is at a shallow angle (as was the case with SMART-1, where it was approx. 2°) the spacecraft can ricochet away from the primary impact point. Based on the experience of SMART-1, lessons will be suggested and opportunities and threats identified.
[1] Veillet C. and Foing B. 2007. 38th Lunar and Planetary Science Conf., abstract #1520. [2] Ehrenfreund P., et al. 2007. 38th Lunar and Planetary Science Conf., abstract 2446. [3] Burchell M.J., et al. 2010. Icarus 207, 28-38 [4] Burchell M.J., et al. 2015. MAPS 50, 1436 – 1448. [5] Stooke, P.J. 2019. Icarus 321, 112-115.
