Tentatively set for a July 2003 launch, the Smart-1 spacecraft will host Europe's first lunar mission. A news article from the BBC outlines the objectives of this pioneering mission. The Smart-1 is incorporating many new technologies and testing them for the first time in space. One of the most notable is the ion thruster, but several other novel items used in the Smart-1, if successful, will end up in a mission to Mercury around 2010.
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