I know that in the past objects have been crashed into the moon to measure the seismic response by instruments on the surface. Was this the case as well with SMART-1, or was there another purpose?
2006-09-25 06:27:16 · 5 answers · asked by Search first before you ask it 7 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Smart was going to crash anyway, since it was running out of fuel to keep it's orbit stable. Gravitational irregularities of the Moon make low lunar orbits unstable over times of a few years. So Smart would have crashed anyway after it ran out of fuel. By making it crash before it ran out it was possible to pick the location of the crash where it could be seen by telescopes on Earth. It was hoped we would gain information about the surface composition from observations of the splash it made.
2006-09-25 09:35:13 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
My understanding was that it was toast anyways. At the end of its mission, out of fuel, etc. so the last useful thing they could do with it was a controlled crash and look at smush.
2006-09-25 13:30:18 · answer #2 · answered by holden 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To analyse the gas and debris thrown up by the collision.
2006-09-25 13:29:23 · answer #3 · answered by bobobob 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They got bored and wanted to do something exciting.
2006-09-25 13:29:16 · answer #4 · answered by Diamond D 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
they had inteligence reporting that osama bin laden was hiding out there....
2006-09-25 13:36:11 · answer #5 · answered by ŚţΰāŔţ ● Ŧ 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋