SMART-1 was launched from Kourou, French Guiana, on 27 September 2003. After launch, SMART-1 uses its ion drive to spiral out from the Earth until the Moon's gravity catches it and pulls it towards the Moon. The final operational orbit is a polar elliptical orbit, ranging from 300 to 10 000 kilometres above the Moon's surface.
After a year of operations it had consumed only 52kg of propellant during its 3300 hours of burn-time and had tested the feasibility of using an ion-drive engine to power spacecraft on long energy-demanding interplanetary missions. Also during its first year it had tested two novel communication systems. The first uses very very high frequency radio waves - those in the Ka band of 32 Gigahertz. Signals of this frequency can transmit more information in a shorter time compared to conventional radio waves. The second communication channel uses a laser. Whilst lasers have been used to communcate betrween th eground and satellites in geostationary orbit, this is the first time they have been used with fast-moving, distant spacecraft.
In Mid November 2004, the spacecraft will be placed in a lunar capture orbit.
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