No. 40 - Ongoing Lunar Operations
With regard to the orbit selection for the mission extension, it has been decided to implement special procedures to use the Xenon beyond the operational limit of 2 kg. The amount of Xenon remaining has been estimated to be 6 kg, about 4 kg will be used during an orbit reboost planned for August. The use of another 1.3 kg will be attempted during September 2005 as a continuous operation by changing the Electric Propulsion settings progressively as the Xenon pressure gets reduced.
Future Activities
In the coming weeks mission activities will be focused in a number of areas including:
- Preparation work for the EP orbit re-boost in August/September
- Start preparatory work for next phase of ground automation activities.
Spacecraft Status
The spacecraft status is good with all functions working nominally.
Startracker Performance
The temperature of the startracker CCD are typical for SMART-1 in operational Moon orbit and within the operational range of the camera-heads. The possiblity of heating by Lunar infrared radiation during MGA pointings is still be investigated.
Power
Over the reporting period the lunar eclipse lengths have steadily decreased from just under 51 minutes on 17 May to around 25 minutes on 16 June. The last eclipse season was on 20 June.
Orbital Information
|
SMART-1 OD327 – Close to Apolune 776 | |
| Pericentre Distance (km) | 2256.089706 |
| Apocentre Distance (km) | 4549.195998 |
| Semi Major Axis (km) | 3402.642852 |
| Eccentricity | 0.336960 |
| Inclination (°) | 90.232619 |
| Ascending Node (°) | 237.271888 |
| Argument of Pericentre (°) | 254.925593 |
| True Anomaly (°) | 180.019293 |
| Osculating Orbital Period (h) | 4.947432 |
The changes since apolune 606 are as follows:
- Semi-major axis: -1 km
- Perilune height: -35 km
- Apolune height: +34 km
- Orbital period: -0.15 min