Simulation of SMART-1's impact crater

To simulate the SMART-1 impact, experts at the University of Kent shot a 2-millimitre aluminium sphere (simulating the spacecraft) at the high-speed of 2 kilometres per second using a two-stage light gas gun, at an incidence angle of 2 degrees. The target was a tray of sand, similar to lunar soil.

The test results suggest that the impact may have caused a clearly elongated lunar crater, and produced a high-speed rebounding for the spacecraft. This may explain some of the properties of the clouds detected by the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope (CFHT) up to 100 seconds after the impact flash.