A
European probe to observe the Moon has ended its mission - by crashing into it!
The space probe Smart 1 has spent the last 16 months orbiting the Moon,
observing its surface and analysing its chemical composition in an attempt to
shed some light on how Earth's companion was actually born. The impact was
planned as an end to Europe's first Moon mission. The collision caused a plume
of moon dust to be released from the Moon, which scientists can analyse from
Earth. Although the Moon has orbited Earth for billions of years, it isn't
actually yet known how it was formed. Some scientists believe that the Moon may
have once been part of Earth. It was formed when an object a similarsize to Mars
collided with Earth billions of years ago. The debris released from the
collision eventually clumped together to form the Moon. Missions like Smart 1,
and future manned lunar landings (the first since 1972!) will try to uncover
where the Moon actually came from.
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