The European Space Agency (ESA) on Monday hailed a probe that it dramatically smashed onto the Moon on Sunday after completing a programme to test next-generation space technologies.
ESA's director of science, David Southwood, said SMART-1 - a box about the size of a washing machine but packed with innovations - had made "technologically huge" contributions to the exploration of space.
"It's a great satisfaction to see how well the mission achieved its technological objectives and did great lunar science at the same time," added SMART-1's project chief, Giuseppe Racca.
They spoke at a news conference telecast from mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, a day after SMART-1 was deliberately crashed into the Lake of Excellence at the end of its nearly three-year mission. Launched by Ariane-5 rocket on September 28 2003, SMART-1 tested a new form of space propulsion called the ion engine.
Ion engines use electricity, derived from solar panels, to charge atoms of xenon gas released from a small fuel tank. These charged atoms, called ions, are expelled at high speed from the probe's tailpipe, providing a thrust that, while weak, progressively builds up in the frictionless vacuum of space. Another breakthrough was the use of laser to communicate with Earth. SMART-1 sent back data up to 130,000 kilometres (81,000 miles) from home.
SMART-1's package of seven scientific instruments, weighing just 19 kilos (41.8 pounds), was also lavished with praise for combining performance with miniaturisation.
Its so-called AMIE camera, weighing just half a kilo (1.1 pounds), took 20,000 pictures with sharp definition of objects as little as 40 metres (yards) across, said the instrument's scientist, Jean-Luc Josset.
Its X-ray telescope and infrared spectrometer carried out the first detailed inventory of the Moon's elements and minerals, said project scientist Bernard Foing.
The probe also set down records in value for money: it had a full-time staff of just seven and a total budget of just 120 million euros (151 million dollars), which is just a quarter of ESA's interplanetary missions.
SMART-1's ion motor will be used for ESA's mission to Mercury, BepiColombo, which is due to launch in 2013, while the X-ray telescope, called D-CIXS, will be deployed on India's Chandrayan lunar probe, due to be launched in 2007 or 2008.
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