Impact vehicle to hit moon

Indore, Sep 2 (UNI) A big flash of light will occur on the southern hemisphere of the moon tomorrow at 0541 hours IST when the man-made vehicle SMART-1 directly hits surface of the Earth's satellite a scientist said here today.

Smart-1 has been revolving around the moon since the last three years. It was launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) to test new types of ''ion engines''. Smart-1 took several hundred high resolution photographs of the moon's surface and prepared a topography of various minerals available on the moon, according to Dr Ram S Shrivastava, founder member of the International Steering Committee of Physics Experiment in Space.

Dr Shrivastava said since there is no air in the atmosphere of the moon, there is no friction hence, burning out Smart-1. It will hit the moon diectly at a speed of 75,000 miles per hour. This impact velocity will be dragging Smart-1 on the moon's surface and the moon's stone, rocks and mud will all burn immediately resulting in a flash of light which will be visible from the Earth for a few seconds.

Dr Shrivastava said the impact will create on the moon's surface a four- five meter wide and more than 100 meters long trench. The impact may also bump up Smart-1 on the Moon at a 78 to 84 meter height.

The Moon is known for many meteoroid collisions on its surface responsible for creating craters. But a man made attack is scientifically important.

Dr Shrivastava said this man made attack on the moon will not cause any damage or affect the future of people on Earth. The impact will generate energy equal to 246 tonnes of TNT explosives.

There is no scientific reason to believe that the Moon Devta will be annoyed and will create any adverse effect on us, he added.

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