The shade of gray on the spotted image shows a location on the moon with an intriguing shape at the top. Here is the last refuge of the ESA SMART-1. Created in 2003, the device was a lunar orbital probe, observing the earth satellite for 3 years. On September 3, 2006, operations came to an end and the ship was sent down to deliberately crash into the moon.
The last bright shock flash was noticed on the border between the lunar day and night with the help of the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope. But then there was no observation ship in orbit, so it was impossible to pinpoint exactly where the strike occurred. Scientists monitored from orbit, simulated various situations and looked for flashes in order to assess the landing location, but for more than 10 years it remained a mystery. In 2017, high-resolution images from NASA's LRO demonstrated the location of the SMART-1. The spacecraft cut a plane 4 m wide and 20 m long. He crossed a small crater and dug into the lunar soil. SMART-1 played an important role in testing the ion engine - an effective type of propulsion system that uses electrical energy to launch the device into space.
SMART-1 was the first ESA mission to travel into deep space using this motor type. The ionic movement is also used on BepiColombo, which will be launched in October 2018 to Mercury.
