'Star Trek' spaceship enters the gateway to the Moon

Times
By Mark Henderson, Science Correspondent



A EUROPEAN spacecraft powered by a Star Trek-style thruster has flown through a “lunar gateway” that puts it on course to reach the Moon on Monday.

Smart-1 has fired its revolutionary ion engine to reach a point at which it can be captured by the Moon’s gravity.

Yesterday morning the washing machine-sized probe cleared the “Lagrangian point” at which the gravity of the Earth and the Moon are in perfect balance. The craft is now assured of orbiting the Moon.

“Smart-1 has passed through the gateway to the Moon,” said Bernard Foing, of the European Space Agency (ESA), the probe’s chief scientist. “It’s an important symbolic day.”
More:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-1354660,00.html

You have to buy something to read the article.

Oh, well.

--bkl

they allow UK ISPs access for 7 days, so I can't tell if this will be visible to you or not:

http://images.thetimes.co.uk/TGD/picture/0,,159641,00.jpg

It's visible, and it's an excellent overview, too.

--bkl

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-3-1354660-3,00.html

I have a suspicion that that can be accessed without going through the 'you must pay' page. If you can see it, it means we can post links from The Times without pissing off most of the board who can't see it.