Bernard H. Foing

ESA's SMART-1 Science Planning Concept and its Evolution throughout the Mission

SMART-1 is the first ESA lunar mission and was primarily built to test a novel solar- electrical propulsion system and a set of miniaturized instruments during its long cruise phase en route to the Moon. Nevertheless, possessing a handful of advanced scientific instruments, it was able to become an important science mission after Moon arrival at the end of 2004. The Science planning concept, being first drawn from a generic concept devised in ESAs Research and Scientific Support Department (RSSD) for all ESA planetary missions, had to be slightly modified due to the very special nature of this project. Being the first of a series of ESA low cost missions, the tight budget directed SMART-1 to use planning tools developed by bigger ESA planetary missions. This approach made powerful tools available for SMART-1 that wouldnt be possible otherwise, however their development was not always guided by SMART-1 and as a consequence essential developments had to be implemented in parallel to the routine mission phase. The second strong constraint on the planning comes from the fact that only spare time from other missions is available for SMART-1 communications. This creates extra difficulties on the mission planning, as ground station availability is only known one week before the spacecraft pointing requests are frozen. The targeted oriented nature of the mission, and the operational constraints imposed by the communications passes makes it impossible to make a solid plan much in advance. The short time frames to prepare operations and the evolving tools, guided the SMART-1 Science Operations Coordination Centre (STOC) to develop a flexible science planning concept where it should be possible to respond quick and adapt almost immediately tool evolutions. In order to achieve the goals proposed the STOC had to choose a centralised approach, where experiment teams provide the scientific goals and the operations needed to achieve such goals. The STOC then has to identify where in the mission the operations to achieve the desired science are available and propose a high level operational timeline to the experiment teams. This centralised approach and identification of valid science opportunities based on science goals decreases considerably the number of iterations needed in a planning cycle and as a consequence the planning time, making it possible to match the SMART-1 time constraints. This paper will describe the SMART-1 planning concept, its evolution, and the impact such evolution had on the planned operations, and consequently science return.

Smart-1 science operations: Experiences and recommendations from ESA's first lunar mission

The European Space Agency’s Smart-1 spacecraft has been in orbit around the Moon since February 2005. The Smart-1 Science and Technology Operations Coordination Centre (STOC) for ESA’s first lunar mission is based within the Planetary Missions Division, making it the first in a series of interplanetary missions that will have their Science Operations Centre based in ESA. This small team of science operations engineers is responsible for proposing and coordinating all of the payload operations based on an established set of science-themes, prioritised targets and desired observation conditions identified in advance of the mission by the Smart-1 instrument scientists. This paper will summarise the initial goals of Smart-1, then reflect on the achievements and setbacks experienced within each phase of the mission. It will highlight the pro-active planning approach adopted by the STOC, which aims to optimise the science return of the Smart-1 mission. The lessons learned from this approach will be addressed, leading to recommendations for future missions from the perspective of the science operations manager.

Fullerenes and Related Carbon Compounds in Interstellar Environments

The prediction of the existence of the fullerene C60 and its subsequent isolation from soot produced a large interest for fullerenes in the astronomical community. Fullerenes of astronomical origin have only been detected in meteorites and associated with an impact crater on the Long Duration Exposure Facility spacecraft. The discovery of fullerenes led to the hypothesis that they may be stable carbon molecules present in interstellar space. Many authors have suggested the possible presence of C60 and carbon onions in astrophysical environments as well as their relation to the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) and the UV bump at 220 nm in the interstellar extinction curve. As first evidence for the largest molecule ever detected in space, two diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) have been identified in the near infrared that are consistent with laboratory measurements of the C60 cation. We review the current knowledge on fullerenes in space and present new observations of the interstellar bands at 957.7 nm and 963.2 nm.