Euro rocket will X-ray asteroid

ASTEROID collisions with earth are the stuff of Hollywood movies, but now a group of British scientists are hoping for an impact of a different kind.

Leicester University's Space Research Centre is preparing to launch a probe that will map the surface of a near-Earth asteroid. The project was given the go-ahead by the European Space Agency (ESA) last Friday.

The spacecraft SMART-1 (Small Mission for Advanced Research in Technology) will carry Leicester University's Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (IXS) to within 10 kilometres of the asteroid, where it will map the surface and take readings of its mineral content.

Dr George Fraser, who leads the IXS team, said the project was the culmination of nine years' work. "We are tremendously excited about this project, which opens up a new field of space research for the university. This will be the first spacecraft to make a map of an asteroid," he said.

"The information we will gain will have fundamental science benefits, from understanding how the early solar system was formed to long-term technological benefits, including mining asteroids for mineral contents."

While the thought of space mining might seem far-fetched, one company, SpaceDev, has already made plans to explore the possibilities.

However, Dr Fraser believes this sort of space exploration and mining is not imminent. "Mining in space is the tangent where science-fiction meets science. It's something that might happen in the distant future because companies are investing in it now, but I think it's a long way off."

The SMART-1 mission is expected to last two to three years, after which a series of SMART missions are expected to be run to test new technologies,.

They will use revolutionary new engines - ion thrusters - to power the craft. The ion thruster works on the principle of a constant low level of thrust, as opposed to conventional rockets which rely on short-term, extremely high levels of thrust for movement.

The technology will also have uses closer to home. The same X-ray techniques used to map the asteroid could be used for chemical analysis in laboratories.

Dr Fraser says the SMART missions will help keep a European space programme alive."There are all sorts of technological and political reasons for these missions," he said, "but really if you want to find out what the solar system is like you've just got to do it."