ESA Science & Technology - SMART-1 Osculating Orbit up to 26.06.04

In this diagram the osculating orbits at launch (GTO) and at different times are plotted. The large effects that the operations of the electric propulsion now have on the orbit expansion is clearly visible. Especially the height of the apogee has dramatically increased and now exceeds one third of the Earth Moon distance. Since the start of the mission, the electric propulsion system has changed the orbital parameters as follows:

• The semi-major axis from 24 626 km to 84 944 km
• The perigee altitude from 656 km to 21 030 km
• The apogee altitude from 35 880 km to 136 103 km
• The orbital period from 10 hours 41 minutes to almost 3 days